Climate of change between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs

Climate of change between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs – The Yorkshire Post says

THE irony was clearly lost on Jeremy Corbyn when he told Boris Johnson that “poor leadership is nothing new to this Prime Minister” during exchanges over this year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow in the wake of former UK Climate and Energy Minister Claire O’Neill being sacked as the event’s president.

Graeme Bandeira's latest cartoon on climate change.

It allowed the debate on climate change at Prime Minister’s Questions to focus on the personalities of the key protagonists – Mr Corbyn led Labour to a historic defeat in last December’s election – rather than actual policies pertaining to, arguably, the defining global issue of these times.

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And while Mr Johnson’s ebullience, even flamboyance, has re-energised politics since he succeeded Theresa May, and then won a convincing electoral mandate to lead Britain out of the European Union, the detail underpinning his plans from Brexit to the environment is opaque.

Boris Johnson at Prime Minister's Questions.

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A possible shortcoming that an opposition leader more effective than Mr Corbyn will be able to exploit, the perfunctoriness of these PMQs actually revealed the dilemma now facing Labour.

Is it going to continue to oppose for opposition’s sake – or is it going to try and lead the debate by coming up with practical, even cross-party, policies on the environment and so on as the Government looks to accelerate the use of electric-powered vehicles?

This is still unknown as local parties consider the merits of the four candidates vying to succeed Mr Corbyn. But what is already clear is that Britain’s democracy is invariably at its best when a strong opposition is holding the executive – and PM – of the day to account.