Boris Johnson has warned the Conservatives will not win the next election by “bashing the green agenda”.
Under Kemi Badenoch, the Tories have vowed to repeal the Climate Change Act – and scrap an “impossible” commitment to reach net zero by 2050 because it risks “bankrupting” the UK.
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But in a new podcast, the former prime minister has described current arguments surrounding environmental policy as “depressing”.
Mr Johnson claimed everyday voters aren’t interested in anti-net zero policies – but simply want “cheap green energy” as they grapple with the cost-of-living crisis.
“I didn’t see us soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is. I didn’t see a massive leap in support for the Conservatives,” he told The Smart Society Show.
He has become the third former Tory prime minister to criticise the party’s opposition to policies designed to cut carbon emissions and reduce global warming.
Earlier this week, Theresa May cautioned the Conservatives against using “populism” for “short-term political ends”.
In a wide-ranging speech to the House of Lords, she warned scrapping net zero policies was an “extreme and unnecessary measure” that would “fatally undermine” Britain’s global leadership on climate issues – as well as jobs and investment generated by the transition.
Baroness Theresa May
She told peers: “This announcement only reinforces climate policy as a dividing line in our politics, rather than being the unifying issue it once was.
“And for the Conservative…
