Boris Johnson issues warning to Kemi Badenoch over ‘bashing green agenda’ | Politics | News
Boris Johnson has warned Kemi Badenoch that the Conservative Party cannot win the next election by “smashing the green agenda”. The former prime minister said he found the “state of the debate” on climate change “depressing” and insisted the public wanted “cheap green energy” rather than anti-net-zero policies.
His intervention came after the Conservative leader vowed to scrap the target of reaching net zero by 2050. Speaking on the Smart Society Show podcast hosted by fund manager Brynne Kennedy and former energy secretary Chris Skidmore, Mr Johnson said: “Certainly in my party it’s all about disrupting the green agenda and personally I don’t think we’ll be elected on that.
“I haven’t seen us rise in the polls as a result of saying how much garbage net zero is. I haven’t seen a huge jump in support for the Conservatives.”
Mr Johnson, who has suggested since leaving office that he was going “too fast” on net zero, became the third former Conservative Prime Minister to warn against the move.
Speaking to the podcast, Mr Johnson admitted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent rise in energy prices had been “a massive blow in the teeth” and that it had made it “really difficult for people like us to make the case for reducing CO2”.
But Mr Johnson, who backed the UK’s net zero target while in 10th place, insisted he had “not lost my zeal” on the issue.
He added: “Even if you don’t get there as quickly as we’d like, I still fundamentally believe it’s the right thing to do.”
But he also said the UK would “have to use some more hydrocarbons for now” to reduce energy costs, arguing this should be a priority for the next five years.
And he warned that the problem of energy costs would get worse “due to the huge demands of artificial intelligence”, saying: “Unless we find a way to do this much more cheaply and effectively, we will need more juice than before.”
The statement comes after Baroness Theresa May told colleagues on Monday that moving to net zero was an “excessive and unnecessary measure”.
And Sir John Major told the Conservative Party luncheon on Tuesday that saying “no to climate change” was outside the “majority of public opinion”.
Earlier this month, Ms Badenoch pledged to repeal the Climate Change Act, which legislates a 2050 net zero target, and replace it with a “cheap and reliable” energy strategy.
The Tory leader warned the target threatened to bankrupt the country.
