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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Helena Horton and Matthew Taylor

‘It’s all a bit cynical’: the politicians behind the Tory attack on net zero agenda

Emissions from power station
The Net Zero Scrutiny Group believes the government’s plans are too bold, dreamed up by out-of-touch elites. Composite: Guardian Design/Getty Images

In the run-up to Christmas, as the UK government was frantically attempting to manage the latest wave of Covid infections, the Conservative MP and long-time agitator Steve Baker was apparently touring the tea rooms of parliament trying to persuade colleagues to sign up to his latest cause.

The self-described Brexit hardman, who as the then head of the European Research Group had relentlessly harried Theresa May’s government over Brexit and then become a thorn in Boris Johnson’s side with his anti-lockdown Covid Recovery Group, had a new – and he believed potentially explosive – target: the government’s climate agenda.

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