BORIS Johnson has come under heavy fire on social media after flying from London to Cornwall to promote a “greener” planet.
The journey is around 250 miles and there are trains available.
The Prime Minister travelled to the English county to attend the G7 meeting of world leaders, and tweeted about his arrival from his official account.
Alongside a picture of himself stepping off a plane branded with a Union Jack, Johnson wrote: “I’ve arrived in Cornwall for this year’s @G7 where I’ll be asking my fellow leaders to rise to the challenge of beating the pandemic and building back better, fairer and greener.
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“It will be a busy and important Summit, and I can’t wait to get started.”
The reaction on social media has included charges of hypocrisy, with people highlighting that short-haul flights are the opposite of the "greener" policies Johnson is claiming to support.
Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer asked: "Did he really just fly from London to Cornwall to talk about a 'greener' future?"
Flying to Cornwall to promote building back greener is like promoting healthy eating by scoffing your way out of a sarcophagus made of Big Macs. https://t.co/20t3RMiDD5
— Tiernan Douieb (@TiernanDouieb) June 9, 2021
Comedian Tiernan Douieb quipped: “Flying to Cornwall to promote building back greener is like promoting healthy eating by scoffing your way out of a sarcophagus made of Big Macs.”
Novelist Gareth Powell wrote: “Fairer and greener? Then why did you take a *plane* from London to Cornwall, you thundering clown?”
One Alex Powell asked: “How can you say building back 'greener' standing in front of a private jet? There is a perfectly good electrified railway between London and Cornwall.”
READ MORE: Keir Starmer under fire after flying from London to Scotland for campaign visit
A Downing Street spokesperson said they would not comment on the choice of transport because of security reasons.
However, they claimed that the Government was fully committed to building a greener planet.
Upon landing, Johnson told reporters: “If you attack my arrival by plane, I respectfully point out that the UK is actually in the lead in developing sustainable aviation fuel and one of the points in the 10-point plan for our green industrial revolution is to get to jet-zero as well as net-zero.”
A short-haul flight is more than five times worse for the environment than traveling by rail, according to the Government's own figures.
Johnson is not the first UK party leader to have come under fire for a similar reason, after Keir Starmer flew from London to Edinburgh during the Holyrood election campaign.
The move came just 10 days after Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar launched his party’s “Green Labour” initiative as part of its climate recovery plan.
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