Net zero: Sunak’s secret weapon or a gift to Labour?

Published

1 year ago

September 22, 2023

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General election campaigning has well and truly begun, and Rishi Sunak has put it all on light green at the political roulette table.

Labour has said it would stick to the original 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars, and would focus on insulating people’s homes to in turn drive down energy consumption through heating.

But after a bruising by-election loss in Uxbridge and South Ruislip – primarily due to the expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) – Labour must be careful not to proselytise on ideology while the Tories claim to focus on people’s pockets.

Politics latest: Kemi Badenoch makes dig at Tory peer’s wealth

Fast becoming a divisive wedge issue, climate change no longer enjoys the cross-party consensus of past governments, and Labour will want to paint a clear and vivid picture of the green economy it claims to be able to create (never mind the green jobs some unions claim will never materialise).

But Labour today will be enjoying watching Tories tear chunks out of each other on net zero policy.

Former Foreign Office minister Zac Goldsmith has been a vocal critic of the prime minister since he resigned from his government in June, and yesterday he described Sunak’s supposed binning of meat and flight taxes and forcing households to have seven bins – something that was in fact never government policy – as “cynical beyond belief” and “reprehensible”.

Interestingly, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch took a swipe at Goldsmith on Sky News, stating: “Most people in this country do not have the kind of money that he has.”

The inference that Goldsmith is therefore out of touch with the British people due to his wealth is an intriguing attack strategy considering the very prime minister Badenoch was defending is also hugely wealthy and married to the daughter of a tech billionaire.

The key for Labour is to sit back and hope the Conservatives tear themselves apart all on their own – allowing the Opposition to continue to make the argument that the Tories are no longer a party of serious governance.

Where Labour could come unstuck, however, is if the majority of backbenchers rally behind their leader and if Sunak’s critics are silenced as a loud minority of fanatical eco-zealots.