Opposition MPs from across the political spectrum have slammed the government’s move to delay or scrap green policies.
Former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband, Caroline Lucas of the Green Party, Gavin Newlands from the SNP, and Andrew Bridgen from the right wing Reclaim Party, were among MPs who gave the government a withering response in parliament, as part of a ‘Net Zero by 2050’ debate.
Claire Coutinho, the Conservative Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, defended Rishi Sunak’s apparent green backpeddling, which included getting rid of the policy for landlords to up the Energy Performance Certificates of rental properties to C by 2028
She said: “We will not reach net zero over the next three decades unless our plans for the future are pragmatic and viable.
“Only 7% of people in the UK currently think that net zero is going to be good for them and their family’s finances in the near term.
“In Europe, we are seeing people push back at clumsy policy that is negatively affecting our lives. It is clear that if we do not bring people with us, we risk sacrificing the whole climate change agenda.”
Ed Miliband, MP for Doncaster North, responded: “Imagine being a business trying to make decisions and invest in our country when they literally do not know from one day to the next what the government policy is.
“Since the Prime Minister’s announcements, businesses from around the world have said that, by backing off climate action, the Prime Minister is turning his back on the greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century.
“Meanwhile, the UK heads into yet another winter where people cannot afford their energy bills. There are still no proper plans for a roll-out of energy efficiency, no plans to properly lift the onshore wind ban, and no proper plan to get the offshore wind market back on track.”
He added: “I have to say to her that it is deeply regrettable that she used her first major public appearance—two weeks ago at her conference—literally to make up complete nonsense about meat taxes, which I notice she did not defend today, and for which frankly she was exposed on national television. I say to her that it demeans her, it demeans her office and it demeans public debate.
“The government said that they were going to move on from the premiership of Boris Johnson, but people will be deeply disturbed to find that that appears to mean dumping commitments to net zero and keeping his peculiar relationship to the truth.”
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “I do not know how the Secretary of State has the gall to stand at the Dispatch Box and say that this is about easing the burden on hard-working people, when she knows that all the evidence shows that what has been announced will increase costs for ordinary people.
“For example, we have heard from the Climate Change Committee that the changes when it comes to landlords and efficiency standards in homes will cost renters an extra £300 a year.
“The Office for Budget Responsibility is clear that, as a result of the changes that are going to be made, our dependence on gas will cost us more.
“If the government really cared about hard-working families, they would not be handing Equinor £3 billion to develop the climate-wrecking Rosebank oilfield; they would be admitting that what the Secretary of State is doing is ripping up the climate consensus for short-term electoral calculation and populist right-wing propaganda.”
Gavin Newlands, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, said: “What does the Prime Minister do when faced with difficulty? He scraps the energy efficiency taskforce after just six months—it is utterly embarrassing.
“If this government were so worried about the affordability of climate measures, why were they offering less support than the Scottish Government for heat pump installation, and why do they keep cancelling successive home insulation schemes?
“Of course, all this follows the Tories permitting a new coal mine, along with the Cambo and Rosebank oilfields. Is the Secretary of State at all surprised that two thirds of UK voters say that the Tories cannot be trusted on climate change?”
Even Andrew Bridgen, MP for the right wing Reclaim Party, said he was unimpressed.
He said: “The Secretary of State is explaining that she is only slowing the government’s headlong dash to net zero because of waning public support.
“When did the Secretary of State think that she was ever going to maintain public support for policies that will make our constituents poorer, colder and less free?”