PM reopens public rift within Tory party
Rishi Sunak reopens public rift within Tory party as he prepares to unveil plans for radically shortening Britain's path to net zero.
The Prime Minister intends to lift the ban on new sales of diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035, the same date set by the EU.
It is expected that in his speech as early as Wednesday he will also say that he is significantly relaxing the phase-out of fossil fuel boilers.
The major policy changes, most notably leaked to the BBC, have caused sharply different reaction from Conservative MPs and revealed a split in the party on Green issues.
Net Zero skeptics hailed the decision as a belated return to common sense, while environmentalists accused the Prime Minister of betrayal.
Mr Sunak has worked hard since taking No 10. to end the division within his party that contributed to the downfall of his two predecessors.
In recent years, arguments have raged between centrists and traditionalists on everything from Brexit to isolation and, more recently, to a no-deal.
With poor poll ratings and a shock victory in Uxbridge, the Prime Minister appears to have decided that reigniting these divisions is an electoral risk worth taking.
Swella Braverman, the Home Secretary, was one of the first to publicly back the call, saying he had made “difficult decisions” that put “household spending first.”
In an extraordinary intervention, she said the government's current green policies, drawn up by Boris Johnson, had «bankrupted the British people».
Her remarks show how concerns about net-zero emissions have reached the top of the Cabinet, with the Prime Minister was under pressure from senior ministers to tone it down.
A large number of influential MPs have also publicly opposed green policies, including a car ban in 2030 and the phasing out of gas boilers.
Sir Iain Duncan Smithformer Conservative leader. , said the policy was “irrational and unattainable” and Mr Sunak had “turned to his inner skeptic”.
“The result of all this net zero religion is that we have increased spending on spins from the poorest people in the country,” he told Talk TV.
“The reality is this was a hoax from start to finish, so I like the idea that the prime minister has turned to his inner skeptic and accepted that the costs and the people this will hit are a disaster.”
Craig McKinley, leader of the 50-member Conservative MP Net Zero Scrutiny Group, also welcomed Mr Sunak's decision as «sensible and pragmatic».
He said pressure Tory MPs influenced No 10's change of heart, adding: «I hope to mark this as a smart win for consumers.»
Two members of the House of Commons transport committee said the government had «seen the light» about the cost of banning new petrol and diesel cars from 2030.
Carl McCartneysaid: «The people complaining are eco-zealots Central Londoners who don't live in the real world and are rich enough not to be affected by this.»
Greg Smithadded: «Our car industry is world-leading. innovators. Forcing them to use only rechargeable batteries is tantamount to stifling innovation.
“Let's empower industry to embrace new de-fossil, carbon-neutral solutions like synthetics. Better choices for consumers, better solutions for the planet.»
Red Wall Tories also welcomed the Prime Minister's decision, saying it «shows the Prime Minister is listening to what MPs are saying too , and the public.”
Dame Andrea Jenkinssaid she agreed with the move “a million per cent” and people in her Morley and Outwood constituency “are not buying net zero.”
“People have been told what to do in lockdown. We shouldn't tell them how to heat their house or what car to drive,” she told Sky News.
“I don't want to make people poorer. I don't want working class voters having to pay for middle class people to drive their electric cars.»
Brendan Clarke-Smith, MP for Bassetlaw, said the change addressed «the concerns of those who believe this could be done in a more effective and fair way».
But the decision to lower net zero targets also exposed divisions among Red Wall MPs over on what the Tories need to do to maintain their 2019 gains at the next election.
Sir Simon Clarke>, the former Level Up minister, said people in his position in Middlesbrough is «overwhelmingly supportive» of cutting emissions.
He said: «We must be extremely careful about trying to gain political advantage on this issue when the efforts of successive Prime Ministers, most of them Conservatives, have been aimed at maintaining what Margaret Thatcher called a 'full renovation lease' on our planet. .
“When the history of this period of Conservative government is written, our leadership on climate issues will be one of our crowning achievements.
“We are fortunate to have a broad, non-partisan consensus in the UK. What good does our country or our party benefit from destroying it?
Mr Sunak has also come under fire from centrists within the party who were alarmed that he was watering down the green promises made by his predecessor at Downing -street.< /p>
Sir Alok Sharma, former president of Cop26, said moving away from net zero «won't help any electoral political party that decides to go down that route.»
«It would be incredibly damaging to business confidence, to inward investment, if the political consensus we have built in our country on the environment and fighting climate change is destroyed,” he said.
Chris Skidmorewho was a “net zero Mr Johnson's czar, warned that lifting bans on cars and gas boilers would be the «biggest mistake» of Mr Sunak's premiership.
He said it would «condemn the UK for missing out on the opportunity of a decade to deliver economic growth, jobs and future prosperity.»
Lord Goldsmith, a former environment secretary who criticized the Prime Minister's «apathy» on environmental issues when he left for resignation in June, said it was a “moment of shame.”
“His short tenure as prime minister will be remembered as the moment Britain turned its back on the world and on future generations,” a fellow Conservative said.
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