Workington's MP has defended his position on the climate crisis after a national newspaper reported leaked texts from him and fellow Tory MPs.

The newspaper reported texts which were allegedly from a WhatsApp group which included Conservatives, but Mr Jenkinson believes the 'leak' did not capture the "framing or detail of debate".

A leaked message from Mr Jenkinson said: "We are ultra-parochial on net zero, and we're simply not the problem."

But the west Cumbrian said he fully supported moving towards a net zero approach.

"I’m disappointed in the leak, it didn’t capture the framing or detail of debate," he said.

“I’m a huge supporter of getting to net zero as quickly as we can, without making my constituents worse off on the way.

“We need to reframe the narrative, as the climate alarmists would have us aim for absolute zero, rather than net zero.

"We’ve already seen how climate alarmist NGOs continue to make life worse for people in developing countries, and would have us go backwards in the UK in the name of progress.

“Britain continues to lead the way on net zero, and were the first to put net zero (and 2050) into law.

"But it has to be a collective effort – our efforts are pointless without larger countries playing their part.”

The Prime Minister announced plans for his green revolution after a damning report from the UN found that it was “unequivocal” that human activity was responsible for global warming.

The Prime Minister reacted to the report, suggesting that coal should be made a thing of history and that the country and world must shift to finding ways to make clean energy – despite Government-backed plans for a new coal mine to be built in west Cumbria.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the report "is the starkest reminder yet that the climate crisis is here right now".

He added: "The biggest threat we now face is not climate denial but climate delay."