Starmer insists he's talked to Trump about climate change in exclusive interview

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has told ITV News that he has had a “number of conversations” with Donald Trump about the climate crisis.

In an exclusive interview, the prime minister reaffirmed his government’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions.

“Net zero is part of our DNA, it’s hard-wired into this government, and that’s why I’ve chosen as a priority clean power by 2030.”

But he said that he was worried that the “political consensus about net zero was breaking down” at home and abroad and that the UK needed to “step up”.

“I think there has been a massive change. If you look at what used to be a cross party consensus on net zero, unfortunately that’s breaking down and I do think this is a real tragedy.”

Starmer also told ITV News there would be no rowing back on the ban on new North Sea oil exploration licences.

“The position we’ve adopted is there’s no new licences and that is absolutely our position. To be clear, oil and gas will be part of the mix for many years to come. The drive to renewables, to clean power, is very much where our focus is.”

ITV News Science Correspondent Martin Stew is the only journalist on board the British research ship the RRS Sir David Attenborough, as it takes part in an expedition deep within the Antarctic Circle.

No other British ship has made the journey this far south, this late in winter, since the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated Endurance voyage, when his ship became trapped in the pack ice and sank in 1915.

Throughout the trip, ITV News will be exploring how our changing climate is impacting Antarctica and the rest of the planet.