Rishi Sunak confirms he's delaying ban on new petrol and diesel cars and boosts boiler upgrade scheme
In a speech from Downing Street, the prime minister said he would put back a ban on new fossil fuel cars by five years in a major U-turn on a raft of measures.
Wednesday 20 September 2023 22:15, UK
Rishi Sunak has confirmed he will be easing a series of green policies under a "new approach" designed to protect "hard-pressed British families" from "unacceptable costs".
Delivering a speech from Downing Street, he said he is still committed to reaching net zero by 2050, but the transition can be done in a "fairer and better way".
Announcing a raft of U-turns, the prime minister said he would delay a ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by five years and confirmed a weakening of targets to phase out gas boilers.
He also said a "worrying set of proposals" that had emerged during debates on net zero would be scrapped, including:
- For the government to interfere in how many passengers you can have in your car
- To force you to have seven different bins in your home
- To make you change your diet and harm British farmers by taxing meat
- To create new taxes to discourage flying or going on holiday
But critics have already pointed out many of the measures above were not planned, and are not the policy of the Labour party - let alone the government.
"Our destiny can be of our own choosing," Mr Sunak said - while calling for politicians to be "honest" about the costs of green policies on families.
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The measures have faced criticism from across the political spectrum as well as from businesses, environmental groups and even former US vice president Al Gore.
Labour accused the prime minister of "dancing to the tune" of net zero-sceptic Tories and said the plans would actually add more costs to households while damaging investor confidence.
Changes on cars and boilers
Explaining the government's decision to delay the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars - currently due in 2030 - by five years, Mr Sunak said this would give businesses "more time to prepare".
He also said people would still be allowed to buy secondhand diesel and petrol cars after that date and this would align the UK's approach with countries across Europe, Canada and many US states.
In weakening the plan to phase out gas boilers, Mr Sunak said households would "never" be forced to "rip out their existing boiler and replace it with a heat pump".
This will only be required when people are due to change their boiler anyway and even then, not until 2035 and exemptions will apply to those who will be bit the hardest "so they never have to switch at all".
Mr Sunak also announced an increase to the boiler upgrade scheme, saying rather than banning boilers "before people can afford the alternative" the government is going to "support them to make the switch" to heat pumps.
He said: "The boiler upgrade scheme which gives people cash grants to upgrade their boiler will be increased by 50% to seven and a half thousand pounds.
"There are no strings attached. The money will never need to be repaid."
Landlord efficiency targets scrapped
Mr Sunak has also scrapped plans to force landlords to upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties, saying some property owners would have been forced to "make expensive upgrades" within two years and that would inevitably impact renters.
"You could be looking at a bill of £8,000, and even if you're only renting, you're more than likely to see some of that passed on in higher rents," he said.
"That's just wrong, so those plans will be scrapped."
Despite the "new approach", the prime minister insisted the UK would meet its international obligations on climate change - such as those made under the Paris Climate Accords.
He went on to defend the UK's record, arguing the country is "so far ahead" of other countries in the world when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
PM's reboot may jar with why Tories turned to him in the first place
Today the cross-party climate consensus in place for many years was shattered.
Minutes after Rishi Sunak's press conference concluded, Labour announced they would reverse the most incendiary of all the PM’s promises - to move back the date to ban new petrol cars from 2030 to 2035.
This puts Labour and the Tories at loggerheads on climate going into the election.
Climate politics will now inevitably get much uglier.
Sunak used a press conference today to set out not only a new approach on climate but a new argument about himself.
Sunak 2.0 is a politician who says that politics doesn’t work, must change, and insists that only he can take decisions in the long-term national interest, put aside party politics and take emotion out of heated subjects.
It is quite a claim, and a big journey he needs to take the public on in a small amount of time.
Might the public struggle to be convinced by the protestations of motivational purity?
'Act of weakness'
Among the critics, Ed Miliband, Labour's shadow energy security and net zero secretary, said: "Today is an act of weakness from a desperate, directionless prime minister, dancing to the tune of a small minority of his party. Liz Truss crashed the economy and Rishi Sunak is trashing our economic future.
"Having delivered the worst cost of living crisis in generations, the prime minister today loads more costs onto the British people."
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: "This is a prime minister who simply doesn't understand and cannot grasp for Britain the opportunities for jobs and our economy of driving forward with action on clean energy."
There was also criticism from the car industry and energy industry.
Chis Norbury, the chief executive of the E.ON energy firm, said it was a "false argument" that green policies can only come at a cost, arguing they deliver affordable energy while boosting jobs.
He said companies wanting to invest in the UK need "long-term certainty" while communities now risk being condemned to "many more years of living in cold and draughty homes that are expensive to heat".
The UK chairwoman of car company Ford, Lisa Brankin, said: "Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three."
Tory MPs split
The announcement comes after last night's leak of the plans sparked a major Tory backlash - and even a threat of no-confidence letters from MPs.
Mr Sunak was due to give the speech later this week but brought it forward following a hastily arranged cabinet meeting this morning.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle reacted furiously to the announcement not being made to MPs, who are on recess for conferences, expressing his views "in the strongest terms" in a letter to Mr Sunak.
Tory MPs are split, with some seeing the row back on costly green policies as a vote winner and others fearing the impact it will have on business and the climate.
Senior figures who have backed the prime minister include his predecessor Liz Truss, who said: "I welcome the delay on banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars as well as the delay on the ban on oil and gas boilers. This is particularly important for rural areas."
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However, Boris Johnson, who Ms Truss briefly took over from in Downing Street, said the U-turns would cause uncertainty for businesses, adding: "We cannot afford to falter now or in any way lose our ambition for this country."
Mr Johnson's ally and prominent Tory environmentalist Lord Zac Goldsmith went as far as to demand a general election over the "economically and ecologically illiterate decision".
The UK's commitment to reach net zero by 2050 was written into law in 2019.
Climate scientists say urgent cuts are needed to the world's greenhouse gas emissions if we are to stop temperatures rising to a potentially catastrophic extent.
In the summer, scientists warned extreme heat events were rapidly on the rise due to climate change.