MP accuses Government of ‘rank hypocrisy’ over Cumbria mine as it hosts international coal phase-out summit

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has accused the Government of hypocrisy by hosting an international summit on phasing out coal just weeks after giving the green light to a new coal mine in Cumbria.

The UK is co-hosting the first global meeting of the Powering Past Coal Alliance, aimed at encouraging countries to shift away from using coal-fired power.

The summit, which runs this week, was opened by the UK energy minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who said that countries must do more to "ensure coal-generated energy becomes a distant memory".

A report released last year by the think tank Green Alliance estimated that the Cumbrian coal mine would produce 8.4 million tonnes of CO2 per year - the equivalent of the emissions of more than 1 million homes.

Tim said: "The UK Government is hosting a global summit on phasing out coal, while at the same time giving the green light to a new deep coal mine being built here in Cumbria - you couldn't make it up.

"It just smacks of utter rank hypocrisy. We will get laughed out of town by other countries if we try and tell them they should be doing more to move away from coal.

"I want the UK to be world-leaders when it comes to the fight against climate change, but we simply won't be taken seriously on this issue until the Government does the right thing and stops this mine from being built."