Good morning. A sense of despondency is permeating Conservative party HQ. The government is flailing after losing two byelections and winning a third by the narrowest of margins. Inflation is not coming down as quickly as they would have hoped. The party’s small boats bill suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords last month, as Channel crossings by people seeking asylum hit record highs. And senior Tories are expecting MPs to quit in droves before the next election after years of political chaos and turmoil have left them exhausted.
Rishi Sunak knows that, with an election looming, he needs to come up with a strategy and create a clear dividing line between his party and Labour. And it seems as though the lesson the prime minister has taken from that slim byelection victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip – where opposition to an extension of London’s ultra-low emission zone formed the central plank of the campaign – is that taking aim at the green agenda is a route to electoral success. Sunak has suggested that his government is willing to roll back, delay and even abandon climate policies that could come at a cost to consumers – and spent the weekend burnishing his pro-car credentials, with plans to restrict local councils’ ability to institute a host of traffic calming and environmental measures.
