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| Zac Goldsmith resigns accusing Sunak of being ‘uninterested’ in environment | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Conservative peer quits as minister after criticism from privileges committee and accuses PM of causing ‘paralysis’ on green issues | |
| Zac Goldsmith has resigned as a minister, accusing Rishi Sunak of being “simply uninterested” in the environment – less than 24 hours after he was criticised by the privileges committee for undermining its inquiry into Boris Johnson. | Zac Goldsmith has resigned as a minister, accusing Rishi Sunak of being “simply uninterested” in the environment – less than 24 hours after he was criticised by the privileges committee for undermining its inquiry into Boris Johnson. |
| The Conservative peer and former MP published a long resignation letter detailing his disappointment with the prime minister for causing “paralysis” on the environment within Whitehall and choosing to attend the party of a media baron rather than an international environmental forum. | The Conservative peer and former MP published a long resignation letter detailing his disappointment with the prime minister for causing “paralysis” on the environment within Whitehall and choosing to attend the party of a media baron rather than an international environmental forum. |
| Goldsmith’s accusations are likely to be unhelpful to Sunak in the lead-up to an election, with opposition parties expected to emphasise the government’s failure to do enough on the climate emergency, animal welfare and sewage discharges. | Goldsmith’s accusations are likely to be unhelpful to Sunak in the lead-up to an election, with opposition parties expected to emphasise the government’s failure to do enough on the climate emergency, animal welfare and sewage discharges. |
| It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govt’s apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down pic.twitter.com/KDJKN3i6ER | It has been a privilege to have been able to make a difference to a cause I have been committed to for as long as I remember. But this govt’s apathy in the face of the greatest challenge we face makes continuing in my role untenable. Reluctantly I am therefore stepping down pic.twitter.com/KDJKN3i6ER |
| The peer’s resignation comes a day after the privileges committee named him as one of the politicians who had undermined its work on whether Johnson misled parliament. | The peer’s resignation comes a day after the privileges committee named him as one of the politicians who had undermined its work on whether Johnson misled parliament. |
| The committee highlighted that Goldsmith had retweeted a tweet calling the inquiry a witch-hunt and kangaroo court, stating: “Exactly this. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.” | The committee highlighted that Goldsmith had retweeted a tweet calling the inquiry a witch-hunt and kangaroo court, stating: “Exactly this. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.” |
| The politician, a longtime ally of Johnson and his wife, Carrie, has resigned from a post before for environmental reasons, when he triggered a byelection over the issue of Heathrow expansion in his then seat of Richmond. | The politician, a longtime ally of Johnson and his wife, Carrie, has resigned from a post before for environmental reasons, when he triggered a byelection over the issue of Heathrow expansion in his then seat of Richmond. |
| In his letter stepping down from the Foreign Office and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Goldsmith said it had been a privilege to work as an environment minister, particularly under Johnson. | |
| But he said he had been horrified by the Sunak government’s “abandonment” of policies around animal welfare, and that its efforts on environmental issues at home had “simply ground to a standstill”. | But he said he had been horrified by the Sunak government’s “abandonment” of policies around animal welfare, and that its efforts on environmental issues at home had “simply ground to a standstill”. |
| “More worrying, the UK has visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature,” he wrote to Sunak. | “More worrying, the UK has visibly stepped off the world stage and withdrawn our leadership on climate and nature,” he wrote to Sunak. |
| “Too often we are simply absent from key international fora. Only last week you seemingly chose to attend the party of a media baron rather than attend a critically important environment summit in Paris that ordinarily the UK would have co-led.” | “Too often we are simply absent from key international fora. Only last week you seemingly chose to attend the party of a media baron rather than attend a critically important environment summit in Paris that ordinarily the UK would have co-led.” |