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Rishi Sunak is to unveil the UK government’s controversial plans on net zero on Wednesday after signalling that Downing Street is set to delay key green commitments.
Boris Johnson, former prime minister, led the attacks on Sunak over his planned retreat, saying: “Business must have certainty about our net zero commitments.”
Johnson, who as prime minister ordered a ban on the sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2030, added: “We cannot afford to falter now or in any way lose our ambition for this country.”
In a frenzy of political activity on Wednesday, Downing Street announced the prime minister would set out his environmental policies in a speech at 4.30pm after details of its contents leaked.
Sunak is expected to push back targets for phasing out petrol and diesel cars and gas boilers but will insist that the government remains wedded to the 2050 legal deadline for making Britain a net zero carbon economy.
On Wednesday morning he organised an emergency cabinet phone call to discuss his plans, while his allies tried to quell a rebellion by Tory MPs who fear any retreat on climate policies will alienate many voters.
“They are trying to hose us down,” said one Tory MP. “They think this will prop up our vote in ‘red wall’ seats, but it will lose the last vestiges of support we had among the young and liberal middle classes.”
Home secretary Suella Braverman paved the way for Sunak’s announcement, dismissing the government’s current targets as “arbitrary”, “totally unrealistic and punitive”.
Car manufacturers have invested in electric vehicle manufacturing on the basis of Britain’s current pledge to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 — a policy that is now in doubt.
Tory MPs have been briefed that the changes being planned by Sunak include pushing back a planned ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 until 2035.
Lisa Brankin, chair of Ford UK, said the existing 2030 target for cars was a “vital catalyst to accelerate Ford into a cleaner future” as she highlighted the company’s £430mn investment in its UK electrification development and manufacturing facilities.
“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three,” Brankin said.
People briefed on Sunak’s thinking said they also expected the government to soften a plan to ban the installation of new household gas boilers from 2035.
The prime minister has promised more “realism” and a “proportionate” state approach to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 — an overarching target that he said he would not abandon.
The apparent move to delay net zero policies comes as the government, which is lagging far behind in the polls, is seeking to make the cost of green policies an electoral issue and highlight its differences from Labour.
The pivot has sparked a fierce backlash from some automotive industry figures, environmental campaigners and Conservative MPs, but has been welcomed by net zero sceptics in Sunak’s party.
Braverman told the BBC that ministers should not treat environmental goals as “straitjackets” or risk targets that “ruin people’s personal budgets” in light of cost of living pressures.
“We’re not going to save the planet by bankrupting the British people,” she said, insisting that moves to curb carbon emissions needed to be taken in a more “sustainable . . . mature . . . pragmatic way”.
In a veiled swipe at Johnson, who had announced many of the government’s most ambitious net zero targets, Sunak said this week: “For too many years, politicians in governments of all stripes have not been honest about costs and trade-offs.”
However, Tory MPs who have championed the green agenda lashed out at proposals to water down the timetable for green pledges.
Former COP26 president Sir Alok Sharma told the BBC that resiling from the climate action agenda would leave the planet “on life support”.
Sir Simon Clarke, former cabinet minister, said on social media that it was in the Conservatives’ “environmental, economic, moral and (yes) political interests” to “lead on this issue rather than disown it”.
Conservatives on the party’s right flank joined Braverman in welcoming the shift. Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, chair of the net zero scrutiny group, said delaying bans on new fossil fuel cars and oil and gas boilers would be “positive news for UK consumers”.
Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the Green party and several environmental groups have criticised proposals to scale back the UK’s net zero pledges.
