Keir Starmer blasted for attending ‘absurd’ Cop29 conference: ‘Pointless exercise!’

Speaking at the conference, Starmer claimed that the UK has an "opportunity to get ahead" on the world stage when it comes to climate.

He added: "The climate challenge is something that we have got to rise to and that’s why I’ve repeatedly said we’ve got to show leadership."

Speaking to GB News, political commentator Piers Pottinger said the decision to attend was a "pointless exercise".

Pottinger explained: "I think everything he says is a bit like the telephone box they've got there at the conference - obsolete.

"It's an absurd conference, under the auspices of the UN."

Pottinger also noted the absence of key world leaders at the conference, including President Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron - who Starmer visited on Monday.

Pottinger stated: "80,000 delegates are flying in for a wonderful carbon footprint there. There's Meloni, Starmer and the Taliban - what a mix.

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"China is not there, America is not there, Germany is not there, nor France. It's a pointless exercise."

Criticising Labour's approach to tackling climate change, Pottinger hit out at their "bold" announcements, claiming their plans and figures are "plucked out of thin air".

He told GB News: "This is what the Labour Party, the government, do. They pluck these targets and numbers out of thin air and make these bold announcements, which then disappear very rapidly when they become clearly impractical."

In disagreement with Pottinger, political commentator Nigel Nelson argued that the plans and figures are "not out of thin air", but instead are "methods" in tackling the growing issue of climate change.

Nelson expanded: "These are not out of thin air. The ultimate target is going to be to get temperatures down to one and a half degrees by 2050.

"So all these targets are methods of actually getting to that."

Pottinger interjected by responding: "Targets aren't methods - targets are targets. Net zero by 2050 is not going to happen, and we all know it.

"If you look at any of the left wing climate analyses, looking at Miliband's plans, they're completely impractical. They have no chance of succeeding, and it's just because Miliband is a mad zealot that we're having to listen to this nonsense."