Tory U-Turn on green policies

We don’t even have an electric car yet, and probably won’t for the foreseeable, given that we do regular 7 hour journeys and until we can be 100% sure of being able to charge en route….

But dh has recently spent many months and had no end of hassle and frustration, trying to organise a power supply to our garage and several others - we are in a close, with most garages in a central block, and the vast majority had no power supply at all.

The major work is finally under way - paths dug up for trenches and a massive hole in our front garden.
The cost is something like £3k for each of 6 properties. A lot more didn’t want to opt in, on account of the cost or for whatever other reason.

We don’t even know whether we’ll ever need power for an electric car, but reasoned that whether or not, having the facility there will make the house more saleable in future.
Having power for lighting is in any case a bonus.

I don’t understand how everyone can switch to heat pumps. Our electrician says they’re awful. I’m not sure that everyone has the room outside to put one and, if they do they’re really ugly. Many people can’t afford one anyway. Why did the government scrap the grants available for people to install solar panels on their roof? If the electorate do support Sunak in his proposals ( and I’m not sure that the do) they need to be better informed as to the implications.

So the government sorts out the infrastructure - it, doesn’t water down climate mitigation!!

The problem is, the UK isn't ready. It's less than a year since we were told that there might be power cuts, due to energy shortages over the winter. Yet they want people to go out and buy electric cars - here in the south west, the charging infrastructure is seriously lacking.

There are no buses here on a Sunday, or after 6pm. This is a town with it's own bus garage, with a population of 44,000! A friend who doesn't drive is afraid to plan anything that involves travelling, as recent train strikes have been a huge problem for her.

So I'm sticking with my old car, thanks...

As for heat pumps, there is a shortage of engineers able to fit them.

www.energylivenews.com/2023/08/11/uk-heat-pump-scheme-raises-installer-shortage-concerns/

maddyone whether or not you support the far right, I think it is undeniable that Sunak has moved towards the far right’s stance and it is they who are celebrating this morning.

So by supporting Sunak in watering down the measures contained in his manifesto, you are undoubtedly supporting the right wing view in the Tory party. From Truss to Tufton Street you can hear the cheers.

And NO ONE HAS TO REPLACE EITHER A PERFECTLY GOOD COMBUSTION ENGINE NOR GAS BOILER IN 2030.

That is a myth being put out. No one has to replace it until they normally would.

The ordinary man in the street or countryside will not be forced to do so

To say any different is not being truthful.

Yes, excellent maddy. I would however comment that heat pumps installed when a property is built are very good, as is ours. I wouldn’t want a retro-fitted system though.

Excellent post maddyone.

Sunak is still committed to the 2050 net zero target.
Sunak is still committed to the 2050 net zero target.
Sunak is still committed to the 2050 net zero target.

It really doesn't matter how often this is said, or how much it's emboldened, the fact is that delaying 'green' measures and continuing the encouragement of the use of fossil fuels will make that target difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.

Actions speak far louder than words and Sunak's actions belie his words.

He is actually turning out to be as much of an inveterate liar than Johnson. Thankfully he won't be in power for much longer...

Labour would reverse Rishi Sunak's 'U-turn' on the sale of petrol and diesel cars, the Shadow Environment Secretary has confirmed.

Labour have already committed to stopping any more licences for North Sea drilling.

Well said maddyone.

Of course Sunak has said he is committed to net zero 2050 - the U.K. has signed up to it in law.

But I don’t believe him

He is aiming to spook the voters by the cost of new electric cars and boilers, but the gas lighting so obvious in yesterdays press conference simply shows that he is calculating that he can gain votes from frightening the voter.

But it is poor economics and even poorer politics. We have witnessed the far right in Europe calculating the very same strategy in order to gain votes, and of course Trump uses it extensively.

Sunak’s dilution of net-zero ambitions may not appear extreme couched as it was in the language of expediency and moderation, but it is insidious and his agenda is reactionary, divisive and dishonest. (Guardians words the last bit)

GrannyGravy13

Siope the U.K. is also committed to net Zero by 2050.

👍. A policy ignored by those who are blinkered.

I agree with these amendments which, given the current situation, were sensible.

Of course whatever he had proposed doing, the Left would complain, but as has been stated many times, the PM is still committed to net zero by 2050.
He has just taken a different approach.

I think on the whole, this will be a popular policy.

I agree with others that he has made a sensible decision.

GrannyGravy, Eazybee, myself and possibly others have been called far right and non thinking voters.

I think that just because we disagree with the apparently majority, left wing view on here does not make us either far right or non thinking voters. If there is anymore of this rude type of comment I will be complaining vigorously to Gransnet and naming those who are making such disgusting comments. None of us are either far right, nor non thinking voters, we simply disagree with the majority on here, which is not a majority view out in the real world.

The reality of this is that ordinary people, who do not live in leafy villages, or have protected pensions, or do not live in houses valued in the six figure range as one (very left wing) Gransnetter told us she does, and they cannot afford to replace perfectly good gas boilers, at a cost of round about £16000, just to meet a target set without proper consultation with themselves. Nor can they afford to buy electric cars, which are more expensive and less effective unless used around town, and in any case there is insufficient infrastructure to provide for the energy needs should every car be electric. This will gradually be remedied, but it’s not there now, and there is insufficient money to make it available by 2030. Heat pumps are not on,y inefficient and ineffective, they are unsuitable for many of the properties in the UK today. Individual families cannot afford to buy them, if the use of food banks has gone up so much because people cannot afford food, how are those families going to afford heat pumps?

Politicians were being dishonest, just as Sunak says, in not telling the voters how much all these regulations were going to cost. Starmer is still being dishonest because he’s already come out and said he’ll reverse all these changes. Course we will, he can afford to make all these changes but what about the ordinary people? Those who can’t afford to pay for this?

Sunak is still committed to the 2050 net zero target.
Sunak is still committed to the 2050 net zero target.
Sunak is still committed to the 2050 net zero target.

GrannyGravy has reiterated this several times but the truth seems to have fallen on stony ground, so I’ve said it again, three times just so the message gets home.

I don't recall the seven bins. I know there was discussion around a "meat tax", but I thought that was more about health eating etc not climate change.

I hate the way politicians "cancel" things that have never been proposed in the first place.🙄

Interesting interview by Nick Robinson (BBC4 ) of seven bins Sunak,questionning him about the accuracy of his statement. He asked him about the proposals Sunak said he had scrapped , the meat tax, the seven bins, the sharing of cars .~"you're pretending to halt frightening proposals that simply do not exist, you're making a series of claims that aren't true."
A bit of a car crash of an interview for the P.M.A shame there weren't more in tne past.

Siope the U.K. is also committed to net Zero by 2050.

Freya5

Nothing new, just following EU lead, who have also realised that 2030 aims were not viable. Funny how Macron, also u turned as you put it, not lambasted by the world keeper Gore, just the UK.

The EU has set itself a legally binding target of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This is codified in the European Climate Law, which also sets an intermediate target of at least a 55% reduction by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

Can you provide evidence this has changed? It has not, as far as I am aware.

What individual EU member countries do to reach that target is not, of course, a change of law, policy, or direction at EU level.

Freya5 👍🏻

Nothing new, just following EU lead, who have also realised that 2030 aims were not viable. Funny how Macron, also u turned as you put it, not lambasted by the world keeper Gore, just the UK.

It's not clear, at the moment, what Labour will say or do at the moment. It's all about votes at the next election.

"Senior Labour MPs were scathing about Rishi Sunak’s decision to roll back some of the government’s most important climate targets. Ed Miliband, the shadow energy secretary, said the prime minister was “rattled, chaotic and out of his depth”. Another shadow frontbencher said they thought Sunak had “lost the plot”.

But while shadow ministers attacked the speech on Wednesday, they also admitted they would not completely undo what the prime minister announced.

Steve Reed, the shadow environment secretary, told Times Radio the party’s policy in advance of the next election would be to restore the 2030 deadline for eliminating the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

But it does not plan to bring back the 2026 deadline for beginning the phase-out of all gas boilers."

www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/20/sunak-u-turn-on-green-policies-puts-labour-in-difficult-position

Yes apparently he will.

Whitewavemark2 no doubt when Sir Starmer becomes PM next year he will be in a position to reverse this decision?

Common sense prevails.