Zac Goldsmith, one of the last survivors of the Boris Johnson era, has resigned as Secretary of State for the Environment, harshly criticizing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his “climate apathy”. Sunak has replied, alleging that his resignation is actually due to his refusal to apologize to the parliamentary privileges committee, which this week pointed out to him along with a total of seven deputies and three lords who interfered in the Partygate investigation.

Goldsmith reiterated, however, that this was not the reason for his resignation and that he would have had “no problem” publicly acknowledging that he should not have criticized the committee for launching an alleged witch hunt against Johnson. Even so, he defended the right of parliamentarians to “freely express their opinion” on the functioning of democratic institutions.

His decision to resign, he assures, is due to a simple reason: “If I compare what my great team and I were able to do before the arrival of this prime minister with the slow progress we have today, I cannot justify the fact to continue in this government”.

Goldsmith stressed that the arrival of Sunak, in contrast to Boris Johnson, has brought “a paralysis” on virtually all environmental fronts: from the climate emergency to the wastewater crisis, including animal welfare. In particular, he criticized Sunak’s decision to attend a meeting with Rupert Murdoch instead of taking part in the recent climate finance summit in Paris.

“Goldsmith’s march from the government amounts to an indictment of Rishi Sunak for all he has failed to do for the climate and for nature,” said Ed Miliband, Labor spokesman for climate change.

Goldsmith’s resignation comes a few days after the report from the Climate Change Committee (CCC), chaired by the conservative Lord Deben, alerting “the worryingly slow progress” of the Rishi Sunak government towards the goal of “zero emissions” in the 2050 set in its day by Boris Johnson in the prelude to the COP26 in Glasgow.

The report warns that the UK is losing its reputation as a world leader in climate action and openly questions the licensing of the first coal mine in 30 years in Cumbria and plans for new prospecting in the North Sea to extract up to 300 million barrels of oil.

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