UK flies its COP28 chief home early to help save Rishi Sunak’s skin

LONDON — The minister leading the U.K.’s delegation to the COP28 U.N. climate summit has left at critical stage in negotiations, as his beleaguered government faces a critical vote on immigration policy at home.

Graham Stuart’s departure sparked a furious reaction from climate campaigners. The talks were due to end on Tuesday but have overrun — as many had expected — with countries, including the U.K., seeking major changes to a draft agreement published on Monday.

British MPs are set to vote Tuesday afternoon on the government’s plans to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, with right-wingers in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party saying a new government bill does not go far enough to ensure the scheme overcomes legal hurdles.

Green groups and NGOs expressed dismay at the decision to withdraw the head of the U.K.’s delegation at a decisive moment.

“There can be no more tragic outcome for U.K. climate diplomacy than this,” said Oxfam’s senior climate change policy adviser Chiara Liguori.

“At the absolute crunch point of talks, the minister Graham Stuart is high-tailing it back to London to put short-term party politics ahead of securing long-term solutions to a global existential crisis,” said Catherine Pettengell, executive director at Climate Action Network UK.

Gareth Redmond-King, head of the international program at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit think tank, said “the weight of ministerial interventions, particularly at a crucial stage of proceedings like this, is much needed if higher levels of commitment to tackling climate change are to be secured from this COP.”

“Other countries have already raised serious questions over the U.K.’s climate leadership.”

Stuart’s early departure comes after Sunak himself faced questions over his decision to only attend the COP for a matter of hours, when other European leaders spent two days or more at the summit.

A Downing Street spokesperson confirmed that Stuart will be flying back to London for the vote before returning to Dubai. The Defra minister and peer Richard Benyon is temporarily replacing Stuart as lead negotiator.

Asked about the carbon emissions involved in the two-legged trip, the spokesperson said: “Our legally-binding commitments remain the toughest in the world.”