Essay by Eric Worrall
Falling between two stools? Backsliding on banning gasoline vehicles and green targets is enough to upset greens, but not enough to alleviate the green energy bill pain of ordinary Britons.
Sunak has ‘set Britain back’ on net zero, says UK’s climate adviser
Chris Stark, head of the Climate Change Committee, says Tories’ decision to dilute key green policies has had huge diplomatic impact
Michael Savage Policy editor Sun 21 Apr 2024 03.11 AEST
Rishi Sunak has given up Britain’s reputation as a world leader in the fight against the climate crisis and has “set us back” by failing to prioritise the issue in the way his predecessors in No 10 did, the government’s green adviser has warned.
Chris Stark, the outgoing head of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), said that the prime minister had “clearly not” championed the issue following a high-profile speech last year in which he made a significant U-turn on the government’s climate commitments. The criticism comes after Sunak was accused of trying to avoid scrutiny of Britain’s climate policies by failing to appoint a new chair of the CCC.
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“It was presented to the country as a step back from going too fast on this transition,” Stark told the BBC. “In the speech itself, he talked a lot about the need to reappraise lots of the steps that take us to net zero. I think it set us back. I think we have moved from a position where we were really at the forefront, pushing ahead as quickly as we could on something that I believe to be fundamental to the UK economy, fundamentally beneficial to the people living in this country, whether you care about the climate or not.”
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Bringing energy price relief to ordinary people could actually claw back support for the British Conservatives.
Going pedal to the metal on the green transition could restore the faith of green supporters.
Trying to find a green policy compromise, where no compromise is possible, just upsets everyone, and will lead straight to the electoral disaster which the out of touch British Conservatives so richly deserve.
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