From Le Figaro with AFP
Published yesterday at 8:31 p.m., updated yesterday at 8:36 p.m.
Westminster Bridge, London. MattiaBicchi / stock.adobe.com
The government’s climate ambitions appear to be paying the price for the purchasing power crisis and its potential impact on the Conservative Party’s elections.
A “realistic” brake: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the postponement of several key measures in Britain’s climate policy on Wednesday September 20, a decision condemned as an election decision and condemned in business circles and even within the ruling Conservatives.
“I am confident that we can take a more pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach to achieving carbon neutrality, which reduces the burden on workers,” Rishi Sunak said at a hastily arranged press conference after his intentions were leaked to the media.
Withdrawal of the ban on thermal cars
The most symbolic announcement concerns new petrol and diesel cars, the sale of which will now be banned in 2035 rather than 2030. Rishi Sunak defended a measure that “aligns” the UK with the timetable of other countries such as the EU. given the outcry in the automotive industry.
He also announced the relaxation of conditions for the phase-out of gas boilers and the abandonment of a housing energy efficiency measure that imposed strict conditions on owners. The climate ambitions of the United Kingdom, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050, appear to be paying the price for the crisis in British purchasing power and its potential impact on the Conservative Party’s elections.
After thirteen years in power, he is now battling Labor in the polls heading into next year’s general election, and some within him have long called on the government to exercise restraint on environmental issues.
Rishi Sunak had already caused an uproar at the end of July when he promised hundreds of new licenses for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the North Sea. This new about-face comes after the independent panel responsible for advising Downing Street on its climate policy lamented in June the “worrying slowness” of the country’s transition.
Also read: Rishi Sunak at Le Figaro: “I want to start a new chapter with France”
“Act of Weakness”
This announcement delighted the right wing of the Conservatives, such as former Prime Minister Liz Truss, who “welcomed” the measures, which were “particularly important for rural areas”. But criticism has multiplied, including from his own camp, leading to heated debates among Tories that appear to have caught many by surprise.
“We cannot afford to falter now or in any way lose our ambition for this country,” said former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who set many of the abandoned targets. “I really don’t think it could help a party electorally to choose this path,” said Conservative MP Alok Sharma and president of COP26 in Glasgow in 2021.
Opposition Labor MP for energy Ed Miliband mocked an “act of weakness by a directionless, desperate prime minister”. And Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the UK “finds itself at the back of the line as the rest of the world struggles to take over the industries of tomorrow”.
“Bad signal”
This means that the economic community has come onto the scene. Manufacturing industry association Make UK protested against “an announcement that sends a completely bad signal,” while the head of Ford in the UK denounced a decision that “contradicts” “the ambitions, commitments and commitments expected of him.” “Consequence” stands for the automotive sector.
On a more conciliatory note, the organization representing the powerful City of London stressed that Downing Street was right to “look for ways to provide solutions in a budget-strapped environment.” The NGO Greenpeace also denounced these announcements in a press release as “a huge fraud against the country” and castigated the “incessant setbacks of this government, which will deter investors and cost jobs.”
The Sunak government appeared to have launched a U-turn on climate policy in July after the Conservatives won a surprise victory in a local election in west London that was driven by voter distrust of Labor Mayor Sadiq Khan’s expansion of the car emissions tax was attributable. The latter estimated from New York, where he is attending the United Nations General Assembly, that “businesses and millions of people are disappointed with the direction of the Sunak government”.
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