ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners from the region have slammed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ‘weakened’ green plan unveiled last week.
The West Midlands Friends of the Earth group criticised the ‘row back’ on policies introduced in a bid to help get the UK to net zero by 2050.
One of the major points regarded phasing out petrol and diesel cars by 2030 which was introduced in 2020 by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
He committed to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the UK after 2030, bringing the target forward by a decade.
To do this, charge points for EVs (electric vehicles) would be rolled out.
But, Mr Sunak announced that plan would be put back by five years to 2035, stressing it ‘was important for the government to take the British people with it’ adding he was still confident of meeting the 2050 net zero target.
Another element was the plan for all new heating system installations to be low carbon by 2026 with household grants used to help achieve that goal.
Last week, he said there would be a new exemption for around a fifth of homes so households struggling to switch from fossil fuel boilers to heat pumps or other low-carbon alternatives, would not have to do so until 2035.
Mr Sunak said the grants to help people make the switch to heat pumps would increase from £5,000 to £7,500.
The PM also u-turned on policies which forced landlords to upgrade energy efficiency in homes but he added households would be encouraged to do so.
Other alterations included scrapping a ‘meat tax’ to encourage people to change their diets – this, some said, would harm British farmers. A plan for people to have seven different bins to encourage more recycling was also shelved and one centred on car-pooling to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads and, in turn, emissions too.
West Midlands Friends of the Earth’s campaigner, Chris Crean, accused Mr Sunak of being ‘environmentally reckless and economically inept’.
“Building a green economy is the best way to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, boost energy security and strengthen the economy. “Weakening these green policies will simply undermine business confidence and put British jobs at risk.
“The government is already being taken to court over its weak and feeble climate action plan, which we say is unlawful.
“If this current package is weakened further, and in a way that’s not transparent about delivery risks, then further legal challenges are inevitable.
“With the world in the midst of a climate crisis we need bold political leadership – not another Prime Minister posturing to a narrow section of his own party for perceived short-term electoral gains.
“The consequences won’t just fall on people in the UK – they will reverberate globally.”
