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Rishi Sunak could back down on his position to ban new onshore wind farms amid a growing Tory rebellion, a cabinet minister has suggested.
Ex-prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss are among some 30 Conservatives backing former cabinet secretary Simon Clarke’s pro-wind amendment to the Levelling Up Bill.
Business Secretary Grant Shapps denied the challenge constitutes a “row” or that there is a “massive gulf” between the rebels’ position and that of the government.
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The amendment would allow wind farms in rural areas where there is community consent.
Mr Shapps suggested this is also the prime minister’s policy, even though Mr Sunak vowed to maintain the moratorium on new onshore wind during his unsuccessful Tory leadership bid in the summer.
Speaking during the leadership campaign, Mr Sunak said: “Wind energy will be an important part of our strategy, but I want to reassure communities that as prime minister I would scrap plans to relax the ban on onshore wind in England, instead focusing on building more turbines offshore.”
However, Mr Shapps told Sky News: “I’ve always said and indeed [Mr Sunak] has always said – where onshore wind happens, it needs to happen with local consent.
“What is being proposed is something which would guarantee that local consent.”
Mr Shapps admitted he hasn’t “studied all the ramifications of that in terms of the planning changes”.
But he added: “To present it as some sort of massive gulf is completely untrue.”
The business secretary’s remarks signal a possible climbdown to avoid a damaging defeat by Tory rebels, made more likely by Labour’s backing for the amendment.
Labour said it is planning to back the amendment to pile the pressure on Mr Sunak, even though the party believes it “swaps the ban for what is still a highly restrictive planning regime on onshore wind”.
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