The home secretary has said that “we’re not going to save the planet by bankrupting the British people” in response to reports the government is looking at watering down some of its key green pledges
Among the changes being considering are the pushing back of a ban on the sales of new vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) from 2030 to 2035 – and a weakening of plans to phase out gas boilers by 2035.
Suella Braverman told Sky News that, while the government remains committed to the goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, “we need to put economic growth first”.
“We need to put household costs and budgets first. We need to put the cost of living first,” she added.
“And we’re only going to achieve that net zero target whereby people and the British people can go about their daily lives using their cars, using the facilities that are available.”
The chair of Ford UK says a delay to the 2030 deadline for selling ICE vehicles would undermine the “ambition, commitment and consistency” they need from the UK government.
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The 2030 ban on ICE vehicles is considered a key plank of the government’s goal of achieving net zero because experts say it will encourage people to switch to zero-emission electric vehicles sooner.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to lay out further details of his plans in a speech in the coming days. The reported change in stance has led at least one Tory MP to “seriously” consider putting in a letter of no confidence in Mr Sunak’s leadership.
In a statement, Mr Sunak said: “No leak will stop me beginning the process of telling the country how and why we need to change.
“As a first step, I’ll be giving a speech this week to set out an important long-term decision we need to make so our country becomes the place I know we all want it to be for our children.”
Conservative MPs are particularly angry at the potential delay to the ending of the sale of internal combustion engines to 2035.
One branded the move “anti-business” given how much has been invested into electric vehicles (EV) and the associated infrastructure.
Could watering down net zero pledges trigger Tory civil war?
An unusual late-night statement from the prime minister triggered by leaks to the media regarding the government’s plans to water down its net zero pledges: Rishi Sunak is continuing to draw the battlelines for the next general election.
Green policy is a contentious topic for both main parties – Keir Starmer, like Sunak, has been heavily criticised for abandoning his green pledges.
But as politicians struggle to balance the cost of going green with boosting the UK’s recovering economy, how much political pain could this really inflict on the prime minister?
Despite a vocal group of critics, behind the scenes many Tory MPs are keen on the climbdown.
One Tory backbencher told Sky News that being “pragmatic and outcome-focused beats virtue signalling every time”.
And Marco Longhi, a Tory MP with a red wall constituency, told me the PM’s decision was extremely welcome.
He said: “While fully behind efforts to deliver a greener planet I am not going to support policies that are only affordable by the richest.”
And at a time when the Conservative party is 19 points behind in the polls – with Labour on 44 points and the Tories lagging on 26 points – Rishi Sunak is keen to make some bold policy decisions in an attempt to close that gap.
However, it remains to be seen whether this is the smartest policy area in which to do that.
According to a YouGov poll from August, 33% of those surveyed said they believe the government should be spending more on the environment and climate change, and 49% believe Sunak’s government isn’t doing enough to reduce carbon emissions.
So, with tentative public support for a green economy, Sunak’s predicted climbdown is an electoral gamble he will be hoping pays off at the ballot box.
They told Sky’s deputy political editor Sam Coates that a push back on the petrol and diesel ban would mean breaking a promise the prime minister made to Conservative MPs privately.
One minister said they would be “staggered” if the ban was delayed, telling Sky News: “Every automotive company is investing in EV, we’ve just given Tata all this money to make batteries, it’s bonkers.”
Tory MPs Chris Skidmore, Alok Sharma and Sir Simon Clarke all complained publicly about the potential watering down of the pledges.
Lisa Brankin, the chair of Ford UK, highlighted that her company had invested £430m in UK development and manufacturing facilities, with more cash to come to fit the 2030 timeframe.
Ms Brankin said: “This is the biggest industry transformation in over a century and the UK 2030 target is a vital catalyst to accelerate Ford into a cleaner future.
“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.
“We need the policy focus trained on bolstering the EV market in the short term and supporting consumers while headwinds are strong: infrastructure remains immature, tariffs loom and cost-of-living is high.”
A spokesperson for Jaguar Land Rover said: “We are committed to and on track to offer pure electric variants across our brands by 2030 and welcome certainty around legislation for the end of sale of petrol and diesel powered cars.
“We are investing £15bn over the next five years to electrify our luxury brands, which is key to JLR reaching net zero carbon emissions across our supply chain, products, and operations by 2039.”
Stellantis, the owner of Vauxhall, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and DS said: “Clarity is required from Governments on important legislation, especially environmental issues that impact society as a whole.”
BMW MINI, which announced plans to construct its electric Mini in Oxford, said it “neither sought or was made any promises” about the timings of an ICE ban when the decision was made.
Asked about the EV industry, Ms Braverman said: “I’m not going to prejudge what the prime minister is going to set out in detail.
“But I would say I do commend him for taking difficult decisions, long-term decisions in the national interest and in the interest of the British people.”
Asked about the concerns raised by her Conservative MPs, Ms Braverman said “everyone should just wait until they hear the detail from the prime minister himself”.
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Darren Jones, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said we will need to wait for the reaction of the car companies to the anticipated policy change.
He told Sky News that “part of the problem” is Mr Sunak’s “weak leadership”, and the way in which the changes first surfaced through a leak and with a “late night press release from the prime minister’s bunker”.
Donald Trump has warned that all goods from Japan and South Korea will face tariffs of 25% from 1 August.
The announcement, via his Truth Social platform, marks the restart of the threatened “liberation day” escalation that was paused in April, for 90 days, to allow for negotiations to take place with all US trading partners.
The president showed off copies of letters to the leaders of both Japan and South Korea informing them of the tariff rates. Those duties will come on top of sector-specific tariffs – such as 50% rates covering steel – already in force.
He warned the rates could be adjusted “upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your country”.
Country-specific tariffs had been due to take effect from Wednesday this week but Mr Trump had earlier revealed that nations would start to get letters instead, setting out the US position.
The letters sent to Japan and South Korea cited persistent trade imbalances for the rates and included the sentence: “We invite you to participate in the extraordinary Economy of the United States, the Number One Market in the World, by far.”
He ended both letters by saying, “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The European Union – the biggest single US trading partner – is among those set to get a letter in the coming days.
Mr Trump has also threatened an additional 10% tariff on any country aligning itself with the “anti-American policies” of BRICS nations – those are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and whose members also include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
The UK, bar a massive shock U-turn, should be exempt.
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2:49
What does the UK-US trade deal involve?
The country was the first to be granted a trade deal, of sorts, in May and the Trump administration has claimed many others had been offering concessions since the clock ticked down to 9 July.
The UK is not expected to face any changes to its current 10% rate due to the trade truce, which came into effect last week.
While UK-made cars aerospace products face no duties under a new quota arrangement, it still remains to be seen whether 25% tariffs on UK-produced steel and aluminium will be cancelled.
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5:08
Can the UK avoid steel tariffs?
They could, conceivably, even be raised to 50%, as is currently the case for America’s other trading partners, because no agreement on eliminating the rate was reached when the government struck its deal in May.
It all amounts to more uncertainty for the UK steel sector.
A No 10 spokesman said on Monday: “Our work with the US continues to get this deal implemented as soon as possible.
“That will remove the 25% tariff on UK steel and aluminium, making us the only country in the world to have tariffs removed on these products.
“The US agreed to remove tariffs on these products as part of our agreement on 8 May. It reiterated that again at the G7 last month. The discussions continue, and will continue to do so.”
China and Vietnam have also secured some US concessions.
The dollar strengthened but US stock markets lost ground in the wake of the letters to Japan and South Korea being made public, with the broad-based S&P 500 down by 1%.
Stock markets in both Japan and South Korea were closed for the day but US-traded shares of SK Telecom and LG Display were down 7.5% and 5.8% respectively.
Shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla have reversed sharply over renewed concerns about his focus on the company’s recovery as he plots against Donald Trump.
Shares in the electric car firm plunged by more than 7% at the start of trading on Wall Street – taking about $71bn (£52bn) off its market value.
The stock has often come under pressure since Musk started his association with the president, latterly helping bring down federal government costs through a new department known as DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency).
But it is now suffering as their political relationship has soured.
Musk has publicly opposed the so-called “big, beautiful bill” – Mr Trump’s flagship tax cut and spending plans that received Congressional approval last week – since he left his DOGE role.
Musk wrote in a post on his X platform on 30 June: “It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!”
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Once the bill was passed, he created a poll on X, asking people if they would want him to launch the America Party.
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1:32
Musk v Trump: ‘The Big, Beautiful Breakup’
He wrote on 4 July: “Independence Day is the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system!”
The vote ended with 65.4% in favour of creating the party.
The formation of the America Party was announced the following day.
“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it! When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.”
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom,” Musk posted.
Trump responded on his Truth Social account: “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks.
“He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States – The System seems not designed for them.”
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1:25
Trump threatens to ‘put DOGE’ on Musk
Trump has previously threatened to go after Tesla‘s government subsidies and contracts through the DOGE department to save “big” as their relationship deteriorated.
Such threats have also pressured the share price at Tesla.
It has suffered throughout Trump 2.0 and, in fact, has trended lower since last December – shortly after Mr Trump’s election win was confirmed.
The possibility of tariff hits to the business, followed by actual tariff disruption, along with a consumer and investor backlash against Musk’s previous DOGE role have contributed to a 35% decline on the December peak.
The very absence of Tesla’s CEO dragged on the shares.
Tesla sales suffered globally as the trade war ramped up due to the imposition of tariffs by a government he supported, until the public row between him and the president began in early June.
Musk had only just renewed his 100% focus on Tesla and his other business interests by that time.
Tesla sales were down during the presidential election campaign last year and continued to decline, on a quarterly basis, during the first half of 2025.
Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, said of the company’s share price woes: “Investors are worried about two things – one is more Trump ire affecting subsidies and the other more importantly is a distracted Musk.
“Investors had cheered Musk stepping back from frontline politics but are now worried he’s going to sucked back in and take his eye off Tesla.”
Post Office scandal victims are calling for redress schemes to be taken away from the government completely, ahead of the public inquiry publishing its first findings.
Phase 1, which is due back on Tuesday, will report on the human impact of what happened as well as compensation schemes.
“Take (them) off the government completely,” says Jo Hamilton OBE, a high-profile campaigner and former sub-postmistress, who was convicted of stealing from her branch in 2008.
“It’s like the fox in charge of the hen house,” she adds, “because they were the only shareholders of Post Office“.
“So they’re in it up to their necks… So why should they be in charge of giving us financial redress?”
Image: Nearly a third of Ms Hamilton’s life has been dominated by the scandal
Jo and others are hoping Sir Wyn Williams, chairman of the public statutory inquiry, will make recommendations for an independent body to take control of redress schemes.
The inquiry has been examining the Post Office scandal which saw more than 700 people wrongfully convicted between 1999 and 2015.
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Sub-postmasters were forced to pay back false accounting shortfalls because of the faulty IT system, Horizon.
At the moment, the Department for Business and Trade administers most of the redress schemes including the Horizon Conviction Redress Scheme and the Group Litigation Order (GLO) Scheme.
The Post Office is still responsible for the Horizon Shortfall scheme.
Image: Lee Castleton OBE
Lee Castleton OBE, another victim of the scandal, was bankrupted in 2007 when he lost his case in the civil courts representing himself against the Post Office.
The civil judgment against him, however, still stands.
“It’s the oddest thing in the world to be an OBE, fighting for justice, while still having the original case standing against me,” he tells Sky News.
While he has received an interim payment he has not applied to a redress scheme.
“The GLO scheme – that’s there on the table for me to do,” he says, “but I know that they would use my original case, still standing against me, in any form of redress.
“So they would still tell me repeatedly that the court found me to be liable and therefore they only acted on the court’s outcome.”
He agrees with other victims who want the inquiry this week to recommend “taking the bad piece out” of redress schemes.
“The bad piece is the company – Post Office Limited,” he continues, “and the government – they need to be outside.
“When somebody goes to court, even if it’s a case against the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), when they go to court DBT do not decide what the outcome is.
“A judge decides, a third party decides, a right-minded individual a fair individual, that’s what needs to happen.”
Image: Pic: AP
Mr Castleton is also taking legal action against the Post Office and Fujitsu – the first individual victim to sue the organisations for compensation and “vindication” in court.
“I want to hear why it happened, to hear what I believe to be the truth, to hear what they believe to be the truth and let the judge decide.”
Neil Hudgell, a lawyer for victims, said he expects the first inquiry report this week may be “really rather damning” of the redress claim process describing “inconsistencies”, “bureaucracy” and “delays”.
“The over-lawyeringness of it,” he adds, “the minute analysis, micro-analysis of detail, the inability to give people fully the benefit of doubt.
“All those things I think are going to be part and parcel of what Sir Wynn says about compensation.
“And we would hope, not going to say expect because history’s not great, we would hope it’s a springboard to an acceleration, a meaningful acceleration of that process.”
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11:28
June: Post Office knew about faulty IT system
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said they were “grateful” for the inquiry’s work describing “the immeasurable suffering” victims endured.
Their statement continued: “This government has quadrupled the total amount paid to affected postmasters to provide them with full and fair redress, with more than £1bn having now been paid to thousands of claimants.
“We will also continue to work with the Post Office, who have already written to over 24,000 postmasters, to ensure that everyone who may be eligible for redress is given the opportunity to apply for it.”