THE UK Government has been accused of having “undermined” world leaders' efforts to deliver $100bn of previously-promised annual payments to the global south by cutting international aid.

The Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed by almost 200 nations at COP26, despite the language on fossil fuels being watered down further at the last minute by India and China.

But the UK Government’s presidency of the event, led by Alok Sharma, failed in bringing forward the annual $100bn that developed nations promised would be rolled out by 2020 but is yet to materialise.

Instead the Glasgow Climate Pact points to “deep regret” that the $100bn promise has still not been met – but pledges for at least that amount to be committed until 2025.

READ MORE: COP26: Warning of Glasgow Climate Pact's 'historic failure' in closing gap on 1.5C

Labour has claimed that the UK Government’s decision to cut international aid in the run-up to COP26 made life more difficult for Mr Sharma to foster a deal on the $100bn – which potentially could have opened up the likelihood of stronger commitments being adopted in the Glasgow Climate Pact.

The UK Government broke a Conservative manifesto commitment after cutting the 0.7% of national income spent on overseas aid to 0.5% and was roundly criticised. Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed in his Budget last month that the cut would remain until at least 2024.

Speaking on Sky News, Labour’s shadow business and energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said Boris Johnson’s government’s message on international aid had “undermined” Mr Sharma’s efforts on global finance.

He said: “I have nothing but praise for Alok Sharma … and the job he did as COP president.

READ MORE: COP26: Glasgow Climate Pact 'watered down' with last minute changes

“But I’m afraid the rest of the Government didn’t help him and undermined him with decisions like cutting overseas aid because we were then saying to other countries ‘please step up on climate finance’, when we were stepping back on aid to poorer countries.”

Mr Miliband also said that the UK Government “should be rewriting that Australian trade deal” after reports Mr Johnson’s administration dropped "climate asks" to get the agreement "over the line".

Australia’ strategy for net zero has been roundly criticised for a lack of a concrete plan, while the country has been seemingly unwilling to move away from burning coal at pace.

Mr Miliband said: “We need to do more to put pressure on all of the big emitters, frankly, that includes India, that includes China.

“It includes countries like Australia … we’re doing a trade deal with Australia and we’ve agreed to drop the Paris temperature commitments from the trade deal. Now, Australia is a real laggard on climate.”

He added: “For all countries, climate policy can’t sit on the side of their other approaches, their other policy, it’s got to be at the heart of what we do. We should be rewriting that Australian trade deal.”

Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, told the BBC that the Prime Minister personally “could have done more to be there” after Mr Johnson was absent from the final crunch days of discussions.

The Prime Minister returned to Scotland briefly on Wednesday, but did not stay on at COP26 for the crucial Glasgow Climate Pact discussions – leading Nicola Sturgeon to appeal for him to come back.

Ms Rayner said: “We have made some progress and we have to acknowledge that, but we also have to acknowledge that we failed in getting that target of 1.5C and we must keep that pressure on because it will be catastrophic for areas of the world and for our planet, so we’ve got more to do, but we have made some progress.

“We saw minister (Alok) Sharma there, doing his utmost, but Boris Johnson has undermined some of our efforts by the use of fossil fuels, the investment in that, the cutting of overseas aid. There’s much more that we can do as a country to set an example globally, to make sure we reach that target.”

She added: “We have a responsibility to support the poorer countries as well, absolutely, we’ve said that.

“Boris Johnson cut overseas aid whereas I think we should be investing and supporting. At the moment we’ve got a Prime Minister who says do as I say, not as I do.”

But Alok Sharma insisted that the Glasgow Climate Pact was “a historic achievement” – claiming that “we managed to get an enormous amount over the line”.

He hailed agreements for countries to revisit and strengthen their 2030 national climate action targets by the end of 2022 and for annual “high level” ministerial meetings on tackling emissions, as he urged for countries to be held “to account for the commitments that were made” in Glasgow.