One of the government’s flagship priorities this parliament has been its pledge for Britain to reach ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2050, with the commitment taking on increasing importance ahead of the COP26 climate summit later this month. But while the policy has wide support across the party, a far more controversial question is how much the change will cost – and if the bill will end up particularly hurting communities in the north.
So far ‘Red Wall’ Tory MPs have been supportive of the government’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions, seeing it as a way to create new green jobs in parts of the country which were hit hard by the deindustrialisation of the past decades. There were signs today, however, that while northern Tories are still supportive of the net zero pledge, they are increasingly concerned about the government’s current direction of travel when it comes to energy policy and the costs of net zero.
Speaking at a Spectator conference event, Ben Houchen, the mayor of the Tees Valley, underlined his support for the policy but argued that ‘the cost of net zero is something we need to get under control’, adding that he thought there more ‘savvy ways’ that government policy could be managed on energy at the moment.
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