Ed Miliband blasted for 12,000-mile round trip twice in two weeks for eco summit
Energy Secretary accused of being "beyond parody" for making the double trip to Cop30
Ed Miliband came under fire after it emerged he is set to make the same 12,000-mile round trip twice in two weeks to attend a climate conference. The Energy Secretary headed to Brazil earlier this month to meet Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Prince William in Rio de Janeiro before they flew to Belem for the Cop30 summit.
Mr Miliband came back to the UK last Sunday, but he is set to return to Brazil this Saturday. His double trip is estimated to have cost taxpayers £22,000 and created six tons of CO2 emissions.
The Tories hit out at Mr Miliband over the globe-trotting for the climate summit.
Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho told the Daily Mail: "It is beyond parody that Ed Miliband is flying halfway across the world and back not once, but twice, all while lecturing the rest of us in the name of saving the planet.
"While Ed jets off again to the forest-thinning climate jamboree in Brazil, closer to home it's ordinary Brits who are suffering thanks to his policies which are pushing up everyone's energy bills."
A source at the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero insisted that the summit needs to take place in person.
They said: "It’s a lot easier for everyone to meet in person – trying to organise a summit of this scale on Teams or Zoom just wouldn’t work, it would be chaos."
A spokesperson for the department added: "The UK government is at COP30 to tackle the climate crisis and protect our way of life by working with other countries.
"That is why the Energy Secretary, alongside the Prime Minister and the Prince of Wales, attended the World Leaders Summit in Brazil last week. Any emissions from attending COP are dwarfed by delivering our agenda.
"While back in the UK, the Energy Secretary continues to be the lead UK Minister for negotiations and remains in close contact with Minister for Climate Katie White, the negotiating team and Rachel Kyte who are at Cop30."
The spokesperson said the UK delegation's carbon footprint would be "offset" but did not say how.
