Ed Miliband has received plenty of plaudits after he made an impassioned speech on climate change on BBC Newsnight yesterday.
He was speaking ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) at the end of October.
“The things you’ve got to understand about these summits, with the host of this summit, your success and your ability to manage the summit depends on your moral authority,” the Labour MP said.
“What we’ve seen this year, I’m afraid, is perilous and an absence of leadership, so when you cut overseas development aid and you’re the only G7 country to do it, vulnerable countries, poor countries look at you and say ‘are you serious? Are you serious about what you’re trying to do?’
Absence of leadership
“Right the way along we’ve seen an absence of leadership.
“Now, I don’t despair, this summit has got to succeed and it isn’t too late but there are some things that the prime minister has got to do, and the first thing is you can’t just leave it to Alok Sharma.
“He’s a good guy, Alok Sharma, but this is about a prime minister, he’s got to take charge of this in the next two months.”
He continued: “Him, Raab, Sunak, they’ve all got to step up. This has got to be cross-government and it hasn’t been so far.”
Reactions
1.
Hello. Someone’s been having Red Bull with his Coco-Pops. pic.twitter.com/2dPz3VAGUC
— Count Binface (@CountBinface) September 14, 2021
2.
Clear and brilliant from @Ed_Miliband – Labour would bring energy, water, transport into public hands 💡💦🚄🚌
— Cat Hobbs (@CatHobbs) September 14, 2021
“In relation to natural monopolies, if we’re going to make this green transition, then public ownership is the right way to go”https://t.co/z1iQQPN12U
3.
Say what you want about Ed Miliband, but the man is far more passionate, empathetic and erudite than his Tory counterparts. #newsnight
— Charlotte ♥ (@charlottes1993) September 13, 2021
4.
Well. Ed Miliband on Newsnight. Passion. Loving it
— Siob, Princess of Yorkshire 💙#FBPE #FBR (@Sillyshib) September 13, 2021
5.
On Newsnight tonight @Ed_Miliband committed to net zero by 2030, working with unions and public ownership of essential services.
— George Aylett (@GeorgeAylett) September 13, 2021
Just imagine if Miliband said this in 2015 instead of supporting austerity and opposing public ownership.. he might have ended up as Prime Minister! pic.twitter.com/9uQqskYddO
6.
Ed Miliband is here providing the leadership, vision and passion that is completely missing from Keir Starmer https://t.co/YmWnIrC6YZ
— Owen Jones 🌹 (@OwenJones84) September 14, 2021
7.
Could have had ‘chaos with @Ed_Miliband’ but they chose the smooth Etonian with the luxury man cave who accidentally took us out of the largest trading bloc & greatest international peace project on earth. Ah well. #Newsnight #ClimateCrisis #ToryShambles pic.twitter.com/DpDNFvMLyN
— Brendan May (@bmay) September 13, 2021
8.
Ed Miliband speaking passionately about climate change on #Newsnight More conviction in give minutes than Johnson in five years.
— steve smith (@steviesmith) September 13, 2021
9.
If I ever go on #Newsnight I’m going to bang the table like @Ed_Miliband.#passion#climate#COP26
— Dominic Minghella (@DMinghella) September 13, 2021
Related: Tory MP calls out Greta Thunberg over climate change and is duly burned