Why Kemi Badenoch is abandoning Net Zero

There are two big speeches being made in London today. Shortly after midday, Liz Kendall will rise in the House of Commons to explain how she intends to reform the welfare system. But before that, Kemi Badenoch will launch her policy commissions to put together a credible Conservative platform in 2029. Cutting benefits or making the Tories electable: one wonders which woman has the harder task.

The challenge of opposition is always in getting your message heard. So it is to the credit of the Tory spinners then that they have managed to splash both the Mail and Telegraph with Badenoch’s claim that ‘Net Zero by 2050 is impossible.’ She will accuse her predecessors of setting the emissions target without a plan that does not ‘bankrupt’ the UK or cause a ‘serious drop in our living standards.’ She will say that reaching net zero emissions in the next 25 years is a ‘fiction’ but refuse to commit to another date instead.