Ed Miliband on the climate crisis should be compulsory viewing

Ed Miliband has had his Weetabix today.

After speaking to broadcasters this morning about climate change ahead of the Cop27 conference, the shadow cabinet minister has been widely praised online.

Speaking to Sky News' Sophy Ridge, he said countries were failing on their climate change promises before slamming Tory minister Oliver Dowden for saying the government would continue its ban on onshore wind.

"It is now cheaper to save the world than to destroy it," he said.

"Renewable power, solar, wind, and other forms of zero carbon energy are cheaper than fossil fuels.

"At home and abroad we need to be all in on those renewable and zero carbon alternatives."

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He added Dowden's comments about keeping the ban on onshore wind were "terrible" and told viewers at home "that is driving up their bills".

"The government is saying 'no' to the cheapest, cleanest form of power," he said.

"It makes no sense and it makes a complete joke, frankly, of Rishi Sunak, the man who couldn't even decide whether he was going to go to Cop27, it makes a complete joke of the idea that he's somehow a leader on clean energy."

Meanwhile, speaking to the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, Miliband said there was "a vacuum of leadership" in climate change policy and that going to Cop27 was important to build international consensus.

"We've got to lead," he said.

And speaking about giving aid to developing countries, he added: "If we don't act and if we don't help countries around the world we're going to end up with the problems that countries face in terms of refugees for example coming back onto us".

"It is absolutely about recognising our moral responsibility," he added.

People thought he hit the nail on the head:

More than 120 world leaders are due to arrive at the summit in Egypt where they will discuss solutions to the climate crisis for two weeks.

At last year's summit in Glasgow a number of pledges were agreed, including to "phase down" the use of coal, to stop deforestation by 2030, to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 and to submit new climate action plans to the UN.

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