The leader of the UK opposition Conservative Party – which was in power six years ago when Net Zero was enshrined into law – has made a dramatic u-turn on decarbonisation under a policy renewal programme launched today.
Party leader Kemi Badenoch accused the UK’s Labour government of “mistaking press releases about GB Energy for actual solutions” and said plans for Net Zero by 2050 “are impossible”.
“The real reason no one in their government is talking about a proper overall plan is that they know it would reveal just how catastrophic the actual costs will be for families, for businesses, and for our economy,” she said.
Badenoch argued that sustainability costs would mean businesses paying much more than they already are for energy, so the country’s industrial base and manufacturing businesses would be further weakened. “It will mean our economy losing out on exploiting our own natural resources in the North Sea, while being saddled with ever greater debt.”
While the Conservatives still support the shift to renewables when it makes energy cheaper and more secure, and didn’t deny the impact of climate change, the opposition leader said they were not a perfect solution and come with challenges.
“We are massively exposing ourselves to countries who don’t share our values,” she said. “It is risking our energy security.”
The UK parliament legislated for Net Zero by 2050 in 2019.
“A multi-trillion pound, 30-year project, touching every single aspect of our lives … was decided in 90 minutes without a single vote,” she said. “It doesn’t look like we are going to get remotely close to Net Zero by 2050.”
However the UK Net Zero economy is worth £83.1bn and 16% larger than the regional economy of the north-east, according to a recent Confederation of British Industry (CBI) Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit report.
The growing sector accounts for 951,000 full time jobs across 22,800 businesses, representing 2.9% of total UK employment. For every job supported by Net Zero businesses, a further 2.5 are supported in the wider economy, the report notes.
