Miliband's 2030 energy target 'a stretch', says his successor, as PM jets in... for climate speech
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Ed Miliband's pledge to decarbonise the UK by 2030 was in tatters on Thursday night after his successor called it a 'stretch target'.
Energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh refused to guarantee the Government would fulfil her predecessor's pledge after being repeatedly pressed on it.
It came after the Prime Minister jetted between three countries to make a six-minute speech to a near-empty hall.
He flew roughly 4,200 miles in about 24 hours, taking in Turkey and Ireland. He will fly to Brussels next week for an EU summit on Brexit having also been to the Caribbean in the past fortnight.
It means he has racked up about 22,500 air miles on taxpayer-funded overseas flights since becoming Prime Minister.
He once vowed he would spend less time on international affairs than his predecessors, and focus instead on domestic concerns.
The Prime Minister jetted between three countries to make a six-minute speech to a near-empty hall. Pictured: Burnham stepping out of his plane upon his arrival to attend COP31 in Antalya on Thursday
Ed Miliband's pledge to decarbonise the UK by 2030 was called a 'stretch target' by his successor
Energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh (pictured) refused to guarantee the Government would fulfil her predecessor's pledge after being repeatedly pressed on it
It came as Ms Fahnbulleh declined to say the Government would meet the 2030 pledge to generate at least 95 per cent of the UK's electricity from clean sources. She instead argued that setting an ambitious goal had created momentum for the transition to renewable energy.
Asked whether Labour would meet its target, she told the BBC: 'I was in the department when we set it. And there was lots of scepticism when we came into government, and we said clean power by 2030. And what it's done is create massive momentum.'
Asked whether her answer was an admission ministers would fail to meet the commitment, she said: 'Well, it's a stretch target, and we're going to run at it.'
It comes after the Tony Blair Institute urged the Government to abandon the pledge and instead prioritise cheaper energy.
Despite this, Mr Burnham told the UN COP31 meeting in Turkey on Thursday that climate change was a national security threat.
He declared 'Britain is back and ready to play its full part' in a 'new era' of leadership in the next decade, recommitting the UK to the 2050 Net Zero target in a speech to a half-empty room as the only G7 leader at the summit.
Despite this, it emerged he had flown tens of thousands of miles since taking office.
After his whistle-stop visit to Turkey to deliver his 764-word speech, he flew to Dublin for the European Political Community meeting, racking up almost 4,000 miles in 48 hours.
His longest trip was to Antigua for the Commonwealth summit this month.
Controversially, the plane took off from Stansted at 6am without the Prime Minister on board before flying 165 miles to collect him in Manchester. It then stopped in Canada to refuel – a round trip of 8,500 miles.
Mr Burnham has clocked up more than 22,500 air miles abroad in his first 115 days as Prime Minister, and about 1,000 miles within the UK, GB News estimated. It means Mr Burnham's taxpayer-funded jet has pumped out about 300 tons of CO2 since he took office.
The figure, based on the jet burning 2,200kg of fuel an hour and each kilogram releasing just over 3kg of CO2, is about 70 times the 4.5 tons the average Briton produces in a year.
Asked whether the 2030 target was a 'stretch', a No10 spokesman said the Government was committed to Net Zero by 2050.
Asked about his flights, the spokesman added that the PM was determined to 'lead from the front to tackle the climate crisis'.
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