But insiders welcome front footed style from 'liberated' PM pleased to be acting in accordance with his own staunchly right wing views
Mr Sunak had secretly been planning to make the announcement on Thursday or Friday during a visit to a business site, and his team had to scramble to bring the speech forward, moving it to the briefing room in 9 Downing Street.
, which will see the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars pushed back five years to 2035 but with increasingly tight quotas on their production still taking effect from next year. A minister insisted the Government was not backsliding from its climate change mission – but admitted it could be hard to convince green-minded voters of that argument. “Rishi is absolutely committed to net zero,” they told. “It’s essential that we do a better job of letting those who for whom this is one of the most important priorities know just how well we’ve performed. We are the world leader. No other major economy has cut its emissions more.
Pollsters have cast doubt on the electoral wisdom of the net zero bonfire, even if it has pleased the Tory faithful. “It’s possible that at the margins there are voters that maybe were planning to vote Reform UK that might vote for the Conservative party”, said Luke Tryl, a former Conservative aide who now runs the think-tank More in Common. “I think there’s a far greater risk of losing voters.
But Tories plan to use the issue to dredge up questions about Labour’s economic policy. An insider said: “If they turn around and say they are keeping the targets, the question will then be – well how are you going to pay for it?” No 10 and No 11 continue to believe that a period of economic calm is a necessary condition for any hopes of a shock Conservative victory at the next general election. Another fall in inflation this week was a “nice surprise”, a Government source said, although price rises in the UK remain stubbornly faster than those in other rich countries as a result of high energy costs and damaging labour shortages.
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