By Jessica Frank-Keyes
Top Conservative minister Michael Gove has called for some net zero measures to be relaxed as he warned against green policies becoming a “religious crusade”.
Gove’s intervention came in the wake of a Labour defeat in the Uxbridge by-election which saw the victorious Conservative MP Steve Tuckwell run a single-issue campaign opposing the ULEZ rollout.
It has sparked an apparent backlash on environmental pledges with senior Tories weighing in and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urging a rethink on the controversial ultra low emission zone (ULEZ).
The levelling up minister told the Telegraph his own department was “asking too much too quickly” of landlords who will be prevented from renting out properties if they fail to hit green standards by 2028.
Amid the existing cost of living crisis and the UK’s ongoing economic and inflationary woes, Gove said: “I think we should relax the pace.”
‘Religious crusade’
He added: “One of the dangers… is that if people think that you are treating the environment as a religious crusade, in which you divide the world into goodies and baddies, you alienate the support that you need for thoughtful environmentalism.”
His comments echo those of former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who warned voters are angry over “arbitrary and very costly” policies brought in to hit to net zero emissions targets by 2050, such as a 2030 ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars.
While former cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees Mogg called on Rishi Sunak to consider scrapping HS2, telling GB News: “I would get rid of things that apply direct costs.
“Having a long-term ambition for net zero is different and working towards it but we need to think about what other countries are doing, what is proportionate and what is affordable.”
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, which is currently holding a strong 17-point lead, according to Opinium, has also split in recent weeks over net zero issues – including around plans of borrowing to fund a £28bn a year investment into green infrastructure. The plan was announced and then walked back in a bid to claim the fiscal highground.
‘Cynical and idiotic’
But ecologically-minded MPs, including former Cop26 president Alok Sharma, have warned against an anti-green approach.
Sharma told the Observer there was broad political consensus around net zero, adding: “Businesses support this agenda because they can see the economic benefits.”
And former minister Zac Goldsmith, who quit his government job claiming Sunak was uninterested in the environment, went further, warning: “To use these recent [by-election] results to advocate abandonment of the UK’s previous environmental leadership is cynical and idiotic.”
No10 has been approached for comment.
