COP26 President Alok Sharma to stand down as MP at next election

Sir Alok Sharma has been MP for Reading West since 2010

COP26 President Sir Alok Sharma has announced he will not stand at the next general election.

The Conservative MP for Reading West said he had informed the constituency association he did not wish to be a candidate for the revised seat of Reading West & Mid Berkshire.

Sir Alok said it had "not been an easy decision".

He recently criticised Rishi Sunak's announcement of exemptions and delays to several key green policies.

Sir Alok, who has represented the Berkshire seat since 2010, posted on Twitter, now known as X: "It has been the honour of my life to serve as the MP for a constituency in the town where I grew up and a privilege to serve in Government and represent the UK on the international stage."

He was appointed to chair the UN's COP26 summit in Glasgow in November 2021.

It ended with a deal being struck in a bid to stave off severe climate change. The pact was the first ever UN climate deal to explicitly plan to reduce coal - the worst fossil fuel for greenhouse gases.

But the pledges did not go far enough to limit temperature rise to 1.5C, seen by scientists as the threshold for dangerous impacts from global warming.

COP26 President Sir Alok Sharma chaired marathon talks in Glasgow in November 2021

After the deal, Sir Alok urged countries to "up the pace" on tackling climate change.

Earlier this month he was critical of the prime minister's announcement of exemptions and delays to several key green policies, alongside a 50% increase in cash incentives to replace gas boilers.

Key among the changes was a five-year delay in the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

Speaking to the BBC from the UN's Climate Action Summit, which Mr Sunak did not attend, Sir Alok said the response from international colleagues at the event had been one of "consternation".

"My concern is whether people now look to us and say, 'Well, if the UK is starting to row back on some of these policies, maybe we should do the same',"he said.