Net zero is ‘impossible’ and will ‘bankrupt’ Britain, Kemi Badenoch warns in ruthless swipe at Tory predecessors

Achieving net zero by 2050 is “impossible” and will bankrupt Britain, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said in a landmark policy speech today.

Speaking from a venue in central London, Badenoch accused her own party of enshrining net zero in law without a proper plan – and warned that laws in place at the moment could cause a “serious drop in our living standards”.

She labelled the net zero target itself “fiction” – and warned that amid soaring energy bills, messing with “cheap abundant energy” was “fantasy politics built on nothing… promising the earth and costing it too”.

“Net zero by 2050 is impossible,” Badenoch said. “I don’t say that with pleasure, or because I have some ideological desire to dismantle it.

“In fact, we must do what we can to improve our natural world.

“Anyone who has done any serious analysis knows it can’t be achieved without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us.

“And responsible leaders don’t indulge in fictions which are going to make families poorer, or mortgage their children’s future – particularly without the rest of the world doing the same – making our country less safe, less secure and less resilient.”

Britain had committed to net zero in 2019 under Boris Johnson’s Government – and ahead of her speech today, Johnson’s father Stanley said he “wasn’t just disappointed… but shocked” by her U-turn.

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“I think Kemi Badenoch has taken the whole world by surprise. I think she’s taken the Conservative Party by surprise,” he said.

“This is deep, deep, deep, deep down ingrained that the UK has been leading the world on this case.

“I’m not just disappointed, I am shocked. I’m absolutely shocked because it just throws out of the pram, decades of commitment by the Conservative Party and indeed by the UK to a climate change effort.”

Alongside her speech, the Conservative leader launched a full-scale party policy review – with each member of the shadow cabinet responsible for a review of their policy areas, with instructions to “rewrite the rules of the game” and consider “every aspect of what the state does and why it does it”.

Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho would be looking at “all areas” of energy policy, she added.

“We need to be honest with the public, who think that Labour have a plausible plan,” Badenoch said.

“They do not. We have to do better than this, and that’s why today, as part of our policy renewal, we are going to do something that Labour failed to do when in opposition – and explains why they are floundering so badly now.

“The plans for net zero by 2050 are impossible. We have to do better than this… We are going to do something that Labour failed to do in 14 years of opposition.

“We are going to deal with reality, confront the real problems, answer the real questions and be ready with a plan.”