While Britain's newest Prime Minister is no environmentalist, 'it could hardly be worse than Truss,” says one campaigner
he U.K. has a new Prime Minister, and British environmentalists are breathing a small, qualified, sigh of relief.the new leader of the ruling Conservative Party
on Monday, after a weekend of chaotic intra-party negotiations to replace Liz Truss, who resigned on Oct. 21 after just 44 days in office, amid fierce backlash to her far-right economic agenda. And while Sunak is by no means an environmental champion, campaigners are cautiously optimistic that he may bring the U.K.’s climate fight back from the brink.a whirlwind for British climate policy
. A long-time advocate of smaller government and deregulation who modeled herself on Margaret Thatcher, Truss had expressed skepticism about the ambitious action needed to reach the U.K.’s 2050 net-zero emissions goal—which Johnson had supported. Once in office, she immediately moved to outlaw solar power on most farmland, overturn a widely-supported ban on fracking, and scrap hundreds of laws and subsidy schemes designed to protect nature.