More than twice as many Conservative MPs as Labour MPs doubt ‘proof’ climate change is caused by humans

Climate scepticism is still rife among the Tory parliamentary party, according to a new poll of MPs.

More than twice as many Conservative MPs as Labour MPs who responded to the poll cast doubt on scientists having “conclusively proved” climate change is caused by humans, despite the world’s most authoritative panel of climate scientists last year saying they were 95% confident that recent global warming is manmade.

The news came as Downing Street confirmed that David Cameron would be attending a crucial UN climate summit in New York later this month.



Green groups welcomed the news that the prime minister will join other heads of state at a New York meeting hosted by UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to discuss bolstering international efforts to reach a deal on climate change before a deadline of December 2015.

But in the Populus poll of 119 of parliament’s 650 MPs for trade magazine PRWeek, including 57 Tories and 51 Labour MPs, only 17 Tories agreed that it was a scientific fact that climate change is largely caused by humans, compared to 34 Labour politicians.



Thirty Conservatives agreed “there is a widespread theory that climate change is largely man-made but this has not yet been conclusively proved”, and another 10 agreed that “man-made climate change is environmentalist propaganda for which there is little or no real evidence.” For Labour, 12 MPs agreed with the former statement, and just one with the latter.

Amber Rudd, a Tory MP appointed energy minister in Cameron’s July reshuffle, defended the party’s stance on climate change science, telling the magazine: “Man-made climate change is one of the most serious threats that we face. In 1988 Margaret Thatcher, a scientist herself, put climate change firmly on the political agenda in her speech to the Royal Society when she said: ‘It’s we Conservatives who are not merely friends of the Earth — we are its guardians and trustees for generations to come. No generation has a freehold on this Earth. All we have is a life tenancy — with a full repairing lease. This government intends to meet the terms of that lease in full.’”

Michael Howard, the former Conservative party leader and a member of the advisory board for the non-profit Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, welcomed the news that Cameron would attend the New York meeting: “The prime minister is to be commended for continuing a long tradition of Conservative Party leadership on climate change.”

Ruth Davis, Greenpeace UK’s political director, said: “This summit is a vital opportunity to inject fresh momentum into global negotiations ahead of a crunch year for action on climate change, so it’s encouraging to see David Cameron is making a priority of it.

“But if Britain wants to reclaim its leadership role on climate, the prime minister needs to put his own house in order first. This means scrapping subsidies for coal plants and setting out a clear plan to phase out coal burning by the early 2020s.”

Owen Paterson, who was sacked as environment secretary in the same reshuffle, has emerged as one of the Tory party’s most outspoken climate sceptics, previously saying “we should just accept that the climate has been changing for centuries”. Cameron and Labour leader, Ed Miliband, clashed over the issue of climate scepticism in Conservative party ranks in the aftermath of the floods that hit England and Wales in the wettest winter for 250 years.