Cameron taunts PM over closure of laboratories

Tony Blair has been embarrassed by a letter from one of his junior environment ministers saying the closure of four eco laboratories involved in climate change research did "not make sense".

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, taunted the Prime Minister over the closure of the laboratories, which have been championed by the television naturalist Sir David Attenborough and Jim Knight, a minister in Margaret Beckett's department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs.

Mr Cameron said the eco labs had been involved in research on tackling climate change, one of the issues that was a priority for the Government, but at the end of the month four of the eight were being closed, as revealed by The Independent. "What happened to joined-up government?" said the Tory leader.

He read out a letter signed by Mr Knight saying "the closure does not make sense either scientifically or economically whether considered at a national or local level." The Tory leader called on the Prime Minister to intervene, but Mr Blair refused to give any commitment to do so.

He challenged Mr Blair to support his minister, but Mr Blair, clearly caught off guard, refused to do so, insisting the Natural Environment Research Council was responsible for the decision. "There is a debate of course because the research council is making the decision and there is a debate about whether that is right or not," said Mr Blair.

The Prime Minister defended the Government's record on climate change and accused Mr Cameron of hypocrisy for refusing to support the climate change levy. "There is no point in him raising these issues while he remains opposed to the climate change levy which is the only sure way of getting the reduction in CO2 emissions we want to see," said Mr Blair. One of the laboratories was featured Sir David's Life in the Undergrowth series on BBC1. Sir David said: "These laboratories are world leaders in biodiversity research. It seems a terrible thing that places with a world reputation are being closed down."

The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology is axing the laboratories at Monks Wood in Cambridgeshire, Winfrith in Dorset, Banchory in Aberdeenshire and at Oxford to save £5m a year.

The cut was backed by its parent body, the Natural Environment Research Council, and will mean cutting staff by 200 to 400 in the next four years.

Mr Cameron said a report this week by the British Antarctic Survey showed the problem of climate change may be worse than previously thought, and the Government would not meet its targets on greenhouse gases, that cause global warming. Mr Cameron said: "I fear the Prime Minister hasn't really considered this, could you go away and think about it, have a look at the evidence and come and report to the House next week."

Mr Blair said the UK was performing well in tackling climate change. "We have set a Kyoto target that we will meet. It's very tough on the CO2 emissions target. But this country is leading the international debate on climate change and we are ranked fifth in the world in terms of our environmental record and I think that's a very good record.''