Boris Johnson tells room full of children ‘we could feed humans to animals’

Boris Johnson also told the children that recycling does not work and cows should be stopped from burping so much (Picture: Downing Street/Getty)

Boris Johnson has told children worried about the climate emergency to ‘feed humans to animals’ in a series of bizarre jokes.

The Prime Minister made the strange comment as he faced a room full of youngsters aged eight to 12 in a mock press conference about the UK’s environmental plans.

The Downing Street banter comes only days before the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, which is due to start on Sunday.

Speaking ahead of the summit, the PM said he does not ‘want to support new coal mines’ as ministers face pressure to prevent a new site opening in Cumbria.

It would be the country’s first deep coal mine for 30 years, extracting the coking coal used to make steel. It has been opposed by leading scientists and climate activists like Greta Thunberg. 

The high-profile project attracted opposition earlier this year and was seen as particularly problematic in the run-up to the crucial Cop26 summit in Scotland.

Mr Johnson, who was joined by Tanya Steele, CEO of WWF UK, asked the young participants what action they want to see world leaders take on climate change.

Among some of the PM’s ‘suggestions’ for tackling our biggest problems, he proposed municipal toothpaste dispensers, encouraging cows to stop burping and feeding humans to animals.

He suggested seaweed may be the answer for stopping the gassy livestock.

On a more serious note, Ms Steele said: ‘I think we need to bring nature back. Our planet, 97% of the mass of mammals on this planet is humans and our animals, our domestic animals. Just 3% is left for the wild.’

She added humans need to take responsibility for our actions.

The PM said it was ‘so sad’ and added: ‘We could feed some of the human beings to the animals.’

Ms Steele then replied: ‘We could have a vote later and ask if there’s any candidates.’

When answering a question about recycling plastic, Mr Johnson claimed it ‘doesn’t work’.

He said: ‘Recycling isn’t the answer. Recycling… it doesn’t begin to address the problem.’

The Prime Minister was joined by Tanya Steele, CEO of WWF UK, in Downing Street (Picture: Downing Street)

He stressed ‘the only answer’ is that ‘we have all got to cut down on our use of plastic’.

Mr Johnson even went as far as shaming Coca-Cola for being one of 12 corporations ‘producing the overwhelming bulk of the world’s plastics’.

He told the children: ‘There are about 12 companies at the moment, 12 big corporations, that are producing the overwhelming bulk of the world’s plastics.

‘Big famous drinks companies that you may know but I won’t name. I don’t know why not, but I won’t name them.

‘Coca-Cola, for instance, and others, which are responsible for producing huge quantities of plastic, and we’ve got to move away from that and we’ve got to find other ways of packaging and selling our stuff.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted Downing Street for comment.

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