Voters will not tolerate being hammered by punitive costs in the mad scramble to Net Zero
Zero votes
FOR years The Sun has warned politicians that voters will not tolerate being hammered by punitive costs in the mad scramble to Net Zero.
The Tories have finally realised we were right.
The ultimate ambition of an emissions-free country is a fine one.
But we are trying to achieve it at ruinous pace.
The Government, in the shape of Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, now admits our main parties have vastly over-estimated the public’s willingness or ability to foot the bill.
Families can’t and won’t replace vehicles they like with £40,000 battery ones which, among other problems, cannot take them on holiday on a single charge.
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They will not replace cheap, efficient gas boilers with heat pumps costing five times as much, especially when it may leave them shivering in the winter.
They despise paying more tax to bankroll politicians’ desires to “show an example to the world” on the climate.
They will vote against all that enforced pain at any time, let alone now.
Last week the Tories won the Uxbridge by-election in London when working people revolted against Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan’s levy on older vehicles.
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But the Government must not now lurch from one extreme to another.
Very few voters want Net Zero ditched entirely.
They are just sick of the apocalyptic hysteria exemplified by Just Stop Oil, its Labour stooges and the BBC.
They are sick of the unscientific, oddly egocentric notion that the UK’s emissions are pivotal to the planet’s survival despite them being globally negligible and their reduction since 2010 already outpacing almost every major nation.
They are sick too of rich politicians who will never struggle to pay a bill preaching about the “immorality” of slowing our rush to Net Zero.
Rishi Sunak MUST delay the random 2030 ban on new fossil fuel cars to at least 2035, like the EU.
Heat pumps could be mandatory in new homes only.
The 2050 Net Zero deadline must be revised, based on economic reality and not wishful thinking. Voters demand it.
They will not be cash cows for MPs panicked by wild-eyed zealots into what Mr Gove rightly calls a “religious crusade”.
Tears for Keir
KEIR Starmer may have survived the latest skirmish with his union paymasters but he faces a world of pain before election day.
His economic aim is somehow to achieve G7-beating growth by improving our energy security, US-style.
But he has ruled out fracking, or new oil and gas, the lifeblood of America’s success.
Meanwhile his backbenchers and union pals are outraged that he intends to stick to the same Tory spending plans he denounces as miserly, while borrowing nothing more and lowering taxes.
No one is on the Left to do that.
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Starmer’s defining trait is indecision, his signature move the U-turn.
Don’t bet against there being many more.