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”.
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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.
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 Party, it risks chasing votes from Reform at the expense of the wider electorate.”
Baroness May went on to highlight polling that suggests the British public are broadly supportive of eliminating carbon emissions.
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A day later, Sir John Major also claimed the Conservative Party’s current policies risk “alienating” the electorate.
He said: “We fare less well when moderate opinions are banished or – where maintained – tolerated and ignored.
“So – when our party says ‘no’ to Europe, ‘no’ to climate change, ‘no’ to overseas aid – it falls out with the majority of public opinion.
“Such policies may delight a minority of opinion, but not the broad mass of electors in our essentially tolerant and kindly nation.”
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Mr Johnson had supported the UK’s net zero targets during his time in Downing Street, and hosted Glasgow’s COP26 summit back in 2021.
But since leaving office, he has suggested he went “far too fast” on eco-friendly policies, especially considering energy prices rose following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to the podcast, Mr Johnson said surging bills had been “a big kick in the teeth” that made it “really tough for people like us to make the case for reducing CO2”.
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Nonetheless, the former PM insisted he had “lost none of my zeal” for net zero: “I still fundamentally believe that it’s the right thing to do, even if you can’t get there as fast as we wanted to do.”
Looking ahead, he also warned that “the vast demands of AI” mean bills could keep on rising unless cheaper and more effective solutions are found.
