The Prime Minister's speech earlier this week in which he announced our new plan to deliver net zero by 2050 was a significant moment for us all and it’s important to understand the thinking in and around it and look at the facts and concerns too.
I appreciate some people will have concerns about the revisions being made to UK’s path to net zero by 2050, but this more pragmatic approach will enable us to bring everyone on this important journey by easing the burdens on working people after a very difficult few years and being fully transparent about the choices involved.
In my role as a DWP Minister I have been working with those who are unemployed or struggling to get back into work post pandemic, particularly focusing on those under 25. I have seen the challenges of the cost of living and am proud to be the Minister delivering the Cost-of-Living Payments and the Household Support Fund. The last few years have been extremely challenging, and we have rightly stepped in to shield the most vulnerable from high prices. I am very proud of the significant efforts and initiatives we have made from the Kickstart scheme to furlough support.
This new plan does not mean losing our ambition or abandoning our environmental commitments. Britain is word leading in terms of the steps we are taking on climate change. Our politics must again put the long-term interests of our country before the short-term political needs of the moment, changing the way we do politics.
Under the revised plans, we will move back the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years, so all sales of new cars from 2035 will be zero emission.
Oil and LPG boilers were due to be phased out from 2026 for off-gas-grid homes (mostly rural) but this has now been delayed until 2035. Several rural homes in Mid Sussex are not able to have heat pumps installed, and this delay means these homeowners will not be forced to spend around £10-15,000 on upgrading their homes in just three years’ time.
With an exemption granted to the phase out of fossil fuel boilers, including gas, in 2035, so that households who will most struggle to make the switch to heat pumps or other low-carbon alternatives won’t have to do so in the current timescale.
The Prime Minister confirmed the Boiler Upgrade Grant has been increased by 50% to £7,500 to help households who want to replace their gas boilers with a low-carbon alternative like a heat pump.
Policies requiring landlords to upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties have been scrapped- instead households will continue to be encouraged to do so where they can. I know these proposals were of great concern to many, as they would have put additional pressures and costs into place at a difficult time for both renters and landlords.
Additionally, various policy proposals which would have interfered with the way individuals lived their lives such as requiring people to car share, possibly taxing meat and dairy consumption, or having up to seven bins to hit recycling targets will not happen under this administration. People are choosing the right things to keep our area special and protect our environment and this is truly the best way forward to achieve change together.
We can do this because over the last decade, we the UK, have over-delivered on our targets (the fastest reduction in emissions in the G7, down almost 50 per cent compared to 1990), technological advances which have reduced costs (such as offshore wind costs down by 70 per cent more than we projected in 2016), and higher than forecast adoption of clean technologies like electric vehicles.
These changes will not require the UK to change or abandon its upcoming 2050 emissions targets and the Prime Minister is unequivocal that we will meet our international agreements including the critical promises in Paris and Glasgow to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
I can assure you I will continue to work to ensure the UK remains the country with the most ambitious, stringent de-carbonisation targets in the world even after these changes are made. We will continue to deliver on our 2050 net zero target whilst being fair and mindful of the impact on the most vulnerable in our society. This is what I am in public service to do.
I will of course monitor the next steps on this process and make sure the thoughts and views of all are taken into account.
