Rishi Sunak defends climate policy U-turn despite criticism

Rishi Sunak defends climate policy U-turn despite criticism | Rishi Sunak | The Guardian

Rishi Sunak has vowed to press ahead with watering down measures to combat climate change despite intense criticism, because he still believes the UK will hit its net zero target in 2050.

The prime minister defended defying the recommendations of the climate change committee (CCC) and insisted he had “absolute confidence and belief” the country was on track to meet its end goal.

In a BBC radio interview on Thursday morning, Sunak shrugged off suggestions he had ignored the view of the official body that advises governments on reducing emissions.

He said: “I’m very happy to have opinions and advice from everybody, and everyone’s entitled to their view. We’re very confident – being in government, with all the information at our disposal – that we we are on track to hit all our targets.”

Sunak told Radio 4’s Today programme that Margaret Thatcher would have agreed with his rationale, and that it was not right for “working families” to face significant costs as part of the country’s transition to net zero.

But Sunak struggled to provide an explanation for claims he had scrapped measures critics said had never seriously been mooted – such as an alleged tax on meat, compulsory car sharing and forcing households to use seven recycling bins.

“These are all things that have been raised by very credible people,” he argued. When pressed, Sunak was unable to provide evidence that those specific measures had been suggested by anyone and instead said they had been euphemistically advocated for by bodies such as the CCC.

In a press conference on Wednesday, the prime minister announced a flurry of U-turns on climate targets– pushing back the ban on purchasing new petrol cars from 2030 to 2035, and delaying the target of eliminating gas boilers.
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The move was condemned by industry figures, including the chair of Ford UK, as well as some Conservatives including Boris Johnson and the former environment minister Zac Goldsmith.

Al Gore, the former US vice-president, led international condemnation of what he called a “shocking and really disappointing” decision that had left young people feeling “stabbed in the back”.