Green charities have warned under-fire PM Rishi Sunak they will "not stand by" if ministers try to water down environmental and climate commitments.
In a joint letter to the PM dozens of environmental groups, including The Woodland Trust, the RSPB, the National Trust and the RSPCA urge him not to use net zero as a "political football". Mr Sunak faces calls from within the Tory party to drop commitments, but the charities have called on him to show courage.
During his leadership campaign he said the environment was the issue his daughters talk about the most, and pledged to make it a priority. But now he's in office there are questions over the strength of his commitment as right-wing Tories push for concessions.
It comes as the Sunday Mirror revealed the PM borrowed a chopper to travel 200 miles – while the world fries. His journey from London to Chester would have pumped over a ton of CO2 into the atmosphere during the hottest month yet recorded. It came the day after the head of the UN warned “the era of global boiling has arrived”. Labour blasted Mr Sunak’s “helicopter lifestyle”.
The PM is under pressure to drop Net Zero policies (Getty Images)Following the narrow Conservative success in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election ministers face pressure within the party to consider the push for net zero by 2050.
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In the letter, campaigners warn Mr Sunak: "We will not stand by whilst politicians use the environment as a political football. It is courage and leadership that we need now.
"In the past, we have mobilised many of our members collectively with extraordinary results, and our resolve to stand firm now against any and all attacks on this critical policy agenda remains absolute."
The coalition calls for an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the climate and environmental crises, as well as "public reassurances" on his intention to take action. "There is no public mandate for a delay. It is therefore with deep alarm that we have read reports over the last few weeks of your government considering watering down its commitments on almost every front of environmental policy," they told Mr Sunak.
The narrow by-election victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip - which the Tories had been expected to lose - has been blamed on on local opposition to the expansion of London's ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez). Mr Sunak has said he wants a "proportionate and pragmatic" approach to achieving net zero amid cost-of-living pressures.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Woodland Trust chief executive Darren Moorcroft said it was "incumbent" on them to act. He said signatories of the letter would not be shy in speaking out ahead of the upcoming general election, expected next year.
"We will make our voices heard with regard to how people should view any political party as it runs into the general election on what it is doing for the environment. So instead of backtracking on environmental policies, we believe every political party that's serious about winning should be setting out plans to get those good green jobs, to get cleaner air and seas to restore our natural environment."
Former chancellor Lord Hammond became the latest senior Tory to intervene in the debate over net zero, warning of the danger of politicians being "systematically dishonest" about the cost of the green transition. He told The Telegraph past prime ministers were not honest about the issue. I don't think this is a Tory disease, I think it's a cross-party disease, it's political class disease," he said.
"What do you do when you passionately believe that you need to do something in the national interest, you are completely convinced it's the right thing to do across the political spectrum, but you can't persuade the damn electorate?
"What happens is you carry on bleating on about democracy and how important it is and our values and our principles, while actually then working out maybe explicitly, maybe implicitly, how to avoid being transparent with the electorate."
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