KENNEDY: BLAIR LOWERS EXPECTATIONS OF SUCCESS ON CLIMATE CHANGE AT G8
After Prime Minister’s Questions Charles Kennedy, Leader of the Liberal Democrats said that the Prime Minister had conceded that he had not reached agreement with President Bush about dealing with issues of climate change. In response to Mr Kennedy’s questions the Prime Minister said ‘I don’t think we’re quite at the ‘salvage’ stage of the operation yet, I’m not saying we won’t get there but we’re not at it yet.’
‘When we decided to make Africa and climate change the two key issues of the G8 summit we were setting the bar pretty high for ourselves… The brutal truth is without America in a process of dialogue and action in the International community we aren’t going to make progress on it. So let us wait and see what we get to, where we get to at the G8 summit.’
ENDS
Full text of PMQ exchange follows.
Mr Kennedy thanked the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition for their tributes to the late honourable member for Cheadle, Patsy Calton.
Charles Kennedy: Given, Mr Speaker the statement from the leading scientific bodies of the G8 countries, including it should be said, the United States, that climate change is real and now demands prompt action, could the Prime Minister spell out what prompt action that the President of the United States agreed to during his discussions with him yesterday?
Prime Minister: Well, we have begun a discussion that I hope as I just said a moment or two ago, will end up with a plan for action at the G8 summit. But certain things are very obvious, the United States administration is not suddenly going to change its position and sign up to Kyoto. However, on the other hand though it is correct that they come at this issue as much from the point of view of energy security and supply as much as climate change, there is an action plan that I believe we can get agreement to at the G8 which will include specific measures that help us to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But I think it is important in addition to that, if I can say so, that we have some form of continuing process that locks in not just the United States of America, but those emerging countries, China and India in particular, without whom, it is very difficult to see how we are going to make progress.
Charles Kennedy: I would certainly accept the latter point that the Prime Minister was making, but he must be the first to recognise, obviously given the position that he is now assuming in the second half of this year, that without the American president fully on board, it is going to be impossible to achieve a consensus on these matters.
So, when the Prime Minister said some time ago that action on climate change was going to be one of the two main planks on which his Presidency would be judged, what is he going to salvage at Gleneagles if the American President won’t sign up?
Prime Minister: We haven’t actually reached the stage of the Summit yet, so I don’t think we’re quite at the ‘salvage’ stage of the operation yet, I’m not saying we won’t get there but we’re not at it yet. And you know, when we decided to make Africa and climate change the two key issues of the summit we were setting the bar pretty high for ourselves, but I think it’s important because climate change is in my view long term the single biggest issue that we face, and the brutal truth is without America in a process of dialogue and action in the International community we aren’t going to make progress on it. So let us wait and see what we get to, where we get to at the G8 summit and I can assure him I will be doing my very best to persuade the United States and other countries that it’s important that we take action on this issue, and obviously it’s of help for me to be able to say that I’ve got the full backing of the Rt Honourable gentleman.
ENDS
END OF EXCHANGE
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