Tory net-zero sceptics sense wind of change
Rishi Sunak’s hesitancy this week over climate change targets is an indication of their importance as an electoral issue
The government’s position on net zero is mutating with astonishing speed. Its most visible green target is a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Boris Johnson declared, when the plan was announced in 2020, that it “put Britain on course to be the fastest G7 country to decarbonise cars and vans”.
But earlier this week Rishi Sunak refused to confirm that the target still stands, saying only that “net zero is important to me”. The cause of his evasion is no great mystery: last week’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, in which a suburban revolt against Sadiq Khan’s Ulez scheme upended an expected Labour win and kept the seat Conservative.
Green campaigners will claim that the prime minister’s hesitancy