Rishi Sunak delays some climate commitments including ban on selling petrol & diesel cars
The Prime Minister insisted he was acting to avoid a public “backlash”
Last updated 20th Sep 2023
Rishi Sunak has delayed the ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars as part of a series of measures watering down plans to tackle climate change.
The Prime Minister insisted he was acting to avoid a public “backlash” saying some of the current timetables would impose “unacceptable costs” on British families.
In the announcement from Downing Street Sunak said he would delay a ban on new fossil fuel cars by five years, pushing it back to 2035
He also announced a delay to the 2030 ban on fossil fuel boilers saying: “We will give people far more time to make the necessary transition to heat pumps.
“We will never force anyone to rip-out their existing boiler and replace it with a heat pump. You will only ever have to make the switch when you are replacing your boiler anyway, and even then not until 2035.”
"Unacceptable costs" to Brits
Mr Sunak insisted the UK was already ahead of allies in reducing emissions and could not impose “unacceptable costs” on British families.
“The risk here to those of us who care about reaching net zero, as I do, is simple: if we continue down this path we risk losing the consent of the British people,” he said.
“And the resulting backlash would not just be against specific policies but against the wider mission itself meaning we might never achieve our goal.
“That’s why we have to do things differently.”
"Not abandoning any of the targets"
The Prime Minister said he wasn't abandoning any of the targets and that the UK would still become net zero by 2050 but he also said the debate about achieving net zero had “thrown up a range of worrying proposals”.
He said: “Today I want to confirm that under this Government they will never happen.
“The proposals for Government to interfere in how many passengers you can have in your car, I’ve scrapped it.
“The proposal to make you change your diet and harm British farmers by taxing meat or to create new taxes to discourage flying or going on holiday, I’ve scrapped those too.
“Nor will we ban new oil and gas in the North Sea, which would simply leave us reliant on expensive, imported energy from foreign dictators like Putin."
He detailed the plans to the public after putting them to Cabinet ministers in a hastily-arranged call in response to a leak of his net-zero plans.