Green Tories have attacked Kemi Badenoch over her decision to turn away from the UK’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050, branding it a “mistake”.
The Conservative leader will deliver a speech on Tuesday in which she will criticise the West’s decision to try and cut carbon emissions to zero by 2050, rejecting the policy as “impossible”.
The shift away from the UK’s net zero obligations will form the basis of Badenoch’s plans to rethink the Tories’ policy platform as she seeks to take on the threat posed to her party on the right from Reform UK.
Taking aim at Energy Secretary Ed Miliband as well as her own former prime minister Theresa May, the Tory leader will criticise successive governments for failing to produce a plan to meet its legal commitments to reach net zero by 2050.
In an excerpt issued ahead of her speech, Badenoch will insist that the Conservatives “care deeply about our natural environment”, adding that they “badly want to improve it”.
But she will warn that by pushing ahead with the policy without being clear to voters of the trade-offs will result in a further loss of trust towards the political class, insisting “we’ve got to stop government by press release”.
“The only way that we can regain it is to tell the unvarnished truth,” she will say. “Net Zero by 2050 is impossible. I don’t say that with pleasure. Or because I have some ideological desire to dismantle it – in fact, we must do what we can to improve our natural world.
“I say it because to anyone who has done any serious analysis knows it can’t be achieved without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us.”
But the comments have been heavily criticised by the Conservative Environment Network, which boasts 50 Tory MPs in its Parliamentary caucus, which has warned the Tories risk turning off voters from the party.
Sam Hall, Director of the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), said: “It is a mistake for Kemi Badenoch to have jumped the gun on her own policy review and decided net zero isn’t possible by 2050.
“This undermines the significant environmental legacy of successive Conservative governments who provided the outline of a credible plan for tackling climate change. The important question now is how to build out this plan in a way that supports growth, strengthens security, and follows conservative, free market principles.”
While the CEN agreed with Badenoch that Labour’s approach to meeting net zero was “not credible”, it warned: “The net-zero target is driven not by optimism but by scientific reality; without it climate change impacts and costs will continue to worsen.
“Abandon the science and voters will start to doubt the Conservative Party’s seriousness on the clean energy transition, damaging both growth and the fight against climate change.”
Badenoch has said that she will be launching “the Conservative Party’s biggest policy renewal programme in 50 years” on Tuesday.
The Tory leader’s decision to set out a policy renewal programme comes as the party attempts to set policy decisions on certain major issues to see off the threat of Reform, including a pledge to deport any migrant found guilty of any criminal offence.
square HENRY HILL
There is a bigger threat to the Tories than Reform
Read MoreShe told the Centre for Policy Studies’ Margaret Thatcher conference: “We’re not announcing detailed policies, but we know where we need to get to.
“We know that we will cut taxes and scrap burdensome regulations so businesses can grow jobs can be created and hard work is rewarded.
“We know we will fight for secure borders and law and order because a country that cannot defend itself at home or abroad is a country in decline.
“We know we must shrink the size of the state and end government waste and dependency because people should decide how to spend their money, not politicians.”
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