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Rishi Sunak on Wednesday ignited a business backlash and a Conservative civil war on the environment as he announced a series of U-turns on key targets to tackle climate change.
The prime minister pushed back a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035 in a delay that is strongly opposed by some carmakers.
He said the move brought Britain into line with EU countries, but it immediately opened a major dividing line on green policies with Labour, which promised to reinstate the 2030 deadline if the party wins the next election.
Sunak also relaxed the 2035 phaseout target for the installation of new gas boilers by introducing an exemption for the most hard-pressed households so they will “never have to switch at all”.
Sunak, who opted not to attend a UN summit on climate change in New York this week, claimed his “pragmatic” approach would allow Britain to reach its 2050 target for net zero carbon emissions, without landing households with unnecessary bills of “£5,000, £10,000 or £15,000”.
While Sunak insisted that his announcement was “not about politics”, Conservative party HQ immediately produced a long list of “questions for Labour on net zero”.
Sunak aims to present Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer as an “eco-zealot”, prepared to inflict his green agenda on struggling families.
Labour said that pushing back the date of the phase out of petrol and diesel cars would “raise costs for British families for billions of pounds because electric vehicles have cheaper lifetime costs”.
In other policy reversals, Sunak abandoned tougher energy efficiency rules for landlords and delayed a ban on new oil boilers from 2026 to 2035.
Meanwhile, the cabinet approved plans to increase by 50 per cent to £7,500 household grants for boiler upgrades, and to “fast track” projects through the planning system that will plug renewable power plants into the electricity grid.
Sunak also ruled out a number of other policies — which he claimed had been floated — such as requiring people to share cars, eat less meat and dairy, fly less or use seven bins to aid recycling.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson led the attacks on Sunak’s policy shift, saying that business needed “certainty”, adding: “We cannot afford to falter now or in any way lose our ambition for the country.”
But in a swipe at Johnson, who had announced many of the ambitious net zero targets, Sunak claimed politicians “in governments of all stripes have not been honest about costs and trade-offs”.
Sunak said the current programme would impose “unacceptable costs on hard-pressed British families”, claiming that in the end it would lead to the collapse of the national consensus on tackling climate change.
Many Conservative MPs welcomed the new proposals. Suella Braverman, home secretary, said: “We’re not going to save the planet by bankrupting the British people.”
But Tory MPs representing constituencies in southern England were worried. One said: “They think this will prop up our vote in ‘red wall’ seats, but it will lose the last vestiges of support we had among the young and liberal middle classes.”
Sir Alok Sharma, the former Conservative minister and ex-president of the COP26 climate summit, said resiling from the green agenda would leave the planet “on life support”. Lord Zac Goldsmith, former Tory environment minister, said it was “a moment of shame”.
Car manufacturers have invested in electric vehicle manufacturing on the basis of the government plan to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 — the deadline Sunak has now abandoned.
Lisa Brankin, chair of Ford UK, said: “Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.”
Make UK, the trade body which represents British manufacturers, said: “Watering down the government’s net zero targets is a huge setback for manufacturers who require stability and confidence in order to invest.”
However, Toyota welcomed Sunak’s move, saying the decision “recognises that all low emission and affordable technologies can have a role to play in a pragmatic vehicle transition”.
The Japanese carmaker has consistently argued that hybrid technology is needed in parts of the world where consumers cannot afford electric vehicles, or where charging is difficult.
Additional reporting by Peter Campbell in London
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