Suella Braverman said the government will not “save the planet by bankrupting the British people” as she confirmed Rishi Sunak is planning to water down some of Britain’s key green policies despite fury among Tory MPs.
The home secretary blasted the “totally unrealistic and punitive” green targets set by previous governments, insisting the UK needs to cut emissions in a “mature and pragmatic way”.
“The cost of achieving some of these arbitrary targets has to be taken into account,” Ms Braverman said, praising the PM for taking “difficult decisions” on net zero.
Ms Braverman said planned changes were being made “in the interest of economic growth and household budgets”.
Her comments come after Mr Sunak sparked a furious Tory row with plans to water down some of Britain’s net zero pledges.
Cop26 president Sir Alok Sharma said coutnries such as Britain abandoning climate pledges risked leaving the planet on “life support”.
Former Tory energy minister Chris Skidmore launched a stinging attack on the PM, warning any changes to Britain’s net zero plans would be “potentially the greatest mistake of his premiership”.
And in a significant intervention, a member of chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s economic advisory council Dr Anna Valero, warned the plans would be “bad for the UK”.
She described the watering down of green policies as “yet another example of policy volatility that prevents businesses taking the long term investment decisions needed for a stronger, more resilient and sustainable economy”.
The prime minister will use a speech this week to announce a major shift in the party’s approach to green policy, saying he wants to achieve net zero in a more “proportionate way”.
It comes after the BBC revealed changes could be made to as many as seven core commitments, including weakening the plan to phase out gas boilers from 2035 and delaying the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars – currently due to come into force in 2030 – by five years.
As recently as July, housing secretary Michael Gove said the government’s plan to ban new petrol and diesel car sales by 2030 - announced by Boris Johnson three years ago - was “immovable”.
But, confirming the reports, Mr Sunak said: “We are committed to net zero by 2050 and the agreements we have made internationally – but doing so in a better, more proportionate way.
“Our politics must again put the long-term interests of our country before the short-term political needs of the moment.”
And Ms Braverman backed the PM on Wednesday, telling the BBC: “We need to ensure that we take into account economic growth, household budgets and the cost of living and fundamentally we're not going to save the planet by bankrupting the British people.
“These goals are just that, goals, not straitjackets. We need to ensure that we work towards those goals in a sustainable way, in a mature way, in a pragmatic way and I applaud the prime minister for taking difficult decisions, but which are fundamentally in the national interest.”
But the move sparked fury among Tory MPs, with some considering submitting letters of no confidence in the prime minister if he goes ahead with the changes.
Mr Skidmore refused to rule out submitting a letter of no confidence in Mr Sunak. Another Tory MP told Sky News they were “seriously considering” the move.
And Simon Clarke warned Mr Sunak to be “exceptionally careful of seeking to extract political advantage on this issue”. The ex-minister said the climate is “changing dramatically”, pointed to “overwhelming” support for net zero among his constituents in the so-called red wall and said it is in the Tories’ “moral and political interests to make sure we lead on this issue rather than disown it”.
Mr Clarke said businesses “rely on certainty” to make major investment decisions. “It is unclear how they are to plan at all if we respond to one byelection in west London by tearing up key planks of government policy,” he added.
Mr Sunak has repeatedly deployed the language of pragmatism and proportionality when discussing net zero, but campaigners and activists have charged him with displaying a lack of interest in climate policies.
Tory success in the summer’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, won largely through a campaign against the expansion of the ultra-low-emission zone, has led some MPs to call for Mr Sunak to water down or abandon Britain’s net zero pledges.
While Mr Sunak has repeatedly said he is committed to cutting carbon emissions, the granting of new oil and gas licences for the North Sea and recent moves to curb green policies have attracted criticism.
Mr Skidmore, who has been increasingly outspoken on net zero, told reporters: “If this is true, the decision will cost the UK jobs, inward investment, and future economic growth that could have been ours by committing to the industries of the future.
“It will potentially destabilise thousands of jobs and see investment go elsewhere. And ultimately, the people who will pay the price for this will be householders, whose bills will remain higher as a result of inefficient fossil fuels and being dependent on volatile international fossil fuel prices.
“Rishi Sunak still has time to think again and not make the greatest mistake of his premiership, condemning the UK to missing out on what can be the opportunity of the decade to deliver growth, jobs and future prosperity.”
Former Tory environment minister Zac Goldsmith, who quit in June with a swipe at Mr Sunak’s “apathy” toward climate change, said net zero is “one of the few areas where the UK is really looked up to”.
“Today Mr Sunak is dismantling that credibility, not by accident but by choice,” he said.
Lord Goldsmith questioned the PM’s mandate to tinker with the government’s net zero policies, saying he took over a party whose last election manifesto “could not have been clearer about our commitment to tackle climate change”.
“His short stint as PM will be remembered as the moment the UK turned its back on the world and on future generations. A moment of shame,” he added.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused the Conservatives of having “trashed the economy of today” and said Mr Sunak is now “intent on trashing the economy of the future as well”.
He added: “This latest Conservative chaos is putting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk across the UK, and leaving families and pensioners paying sky-high energy bills.”
And as well as Tory and opposition MPs, Mr Sunak’s plans sparked outrage among campaigners and experts, with think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) warning he risked being “on the wrong side of history”.
Associate director Luke Murphy said any watering down of commitments would be bad for consumers and “make us all more reliant on volatile, expensive, imported fossil fuels”.
“While other countries race ahead, the UK is going into reverse gear,” Mr Murphy said.
And, in a bid to grab Downing Street’s attention, he said any weakening of the government’s climate ambitions “would be bad for the Conservatives electoral prospects”. “The public overwhelmingly support climate action regardless of age, geography, background or voting intention - they want more ambition on climate not less,” he said.
Hannah Martin, a co-director of Green New Deal Rising, said: “Once again this government has shown that they are hell-bent on breaking their promises and doing nothing to stop climate chaos. Just weeks after the hottest summer on record, Rishi Sunak has decided to ignore science and stoke a culture war.
Rishi Sunak is said to be considering rowing back on net zero pledges— (AP)
“Whilst global leaders are meeting to discuss how to tackle the climate crisis, he has stayed home to set fire to some of the only remaining climate policies this government had left.
“Not only will the UK miss out on the opportunity to create millions of good green jobs and secure our energy future, we will be once again seen as a laggard as we duck out of doing our fair share to tackle the biggest existential crisis we face.”
Greenpeace UK’s policy director, Doug Parr, said rowing back on such policies would only ensure “we stay at the mercy of volatile fossil fuels and exploitative energy companies”.
“The many scandals we face, like the cost of living, inequality, and the energy crisis, can be fixed with the same solutions we know will tackle the climate crisis. Sunak must explain how we will meet our net zero commitments by rowing back on all of the policies to get us anywhere near it.”
And Jess Ralston, head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said that backpedalling on energy efficiency would only leave the poorest with higher bills. “All of this would leave us more dependent on foreign oil and gas, less energy independent, and with investors spooked, putting jobs in the industries of the future in jeopardy,” she said.
A government spokesperson said: “The government remains completely committed to its net zero commitments, with the UK having cut emissions faster than any other G7 country. Our approach will always be pragmatic and ensure costs are not passed on to hard-working families.
“We will not comment on speculation.”
