An exclusive article in The Argus revealed the leader of the Brighton and Hove City’s Green council has apologised for a “major failure of judgement” after being caught flying to a climate change conference.
Councillor Phelim Mac Cafferty took a plane from London to Glasgow to attend COP26 on the same day he criticised the government for a “lack of action” over climate change.
After completing the 460-mile journey, Cllr Mac Cafferty made a speech on cutting carbon emissions and appeared at a protest march, led by Greta Thunberg, calling for world leaders to stop temperatures rising.
Cllr Mac Cafferty, leader of the city’s Green Party, unreservedly apologised for taking flight for around 1 hour 20 minutes citing he had been worried his train might be cancelled.
He told The Argus: “In the Friday evening just gone, I took a flight from London to Glasgow to attend COP26 where I had been invited to represent the city at a presentation of the Glasgow Declaration on Saturday morning.
“This decision to fly was a major failure of my judgement which goes against my political group’s pledges and principles and I unreservedly apologise.”
He took the flight just days after he claimed in his weekly Argus column that Brighton and Hove was “leading the way on climate and social action”.
Cllr Mac Cafferty added: “I reluctantly took this very difficult decision because I was concerned about the unreliability of the rail network following the well-publicised difficulties experienced by many people wanting to travel by train to Glasgow the week before, when trains were cancelled.
“I was concerned that this would happen again and I felt it was important not to miss the opportunity to attend the important presentation on behalf of the city, lobby world leaders and share with others the innovative work taking place in Brighton and Hove.
“I paid for my own transport and all associated costs. I am not getting paid for any of the speeches I am making or meetings I am attending and I am otherwise working from Glasgow.
“Transport contributes a large portion of carbon emissions, all significant journeys we make have an effect on our climate. I will be offsetting the carbon cost of my journey.
“I will be taking my return journey on train. Again, I apologise unreservedly.”
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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