The government’s attempt to reset the political narrative has begun. Its weapon of choice? The net zero agenda. The papers and the BBC this morning (20 September) are reporting that Sunak is on the verge of diluting a series of measures designed to combat global warming. The top lines are that plans to ban new gas and oil boilers, as well as new diesel and petrol cars, will be diluted and pushed back five years.
Yet again, Sunak will have to face down a party divided over one of the most important policy issues of the decade. Opposition to the net zero agenda has been brewing for a while, with sceptical Tory MPs coalescing together in groups such as the Net Zero Scrutiny Group. But there’s also a sizeable contingent that will resist any attempt to slim down the measures. The Tory MP Chris Skidmore has said this is “potentially the greatest mistake of [Sunak’s] premiership so far”. Simon Clarke, a leading free marketeer in the party, said he was “clear that [net zero] is in our environmental, economic, moral and (yes) political interests as Conservatives”.
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