Theresa May has condemned Kemi Badenoch’s promise to repeal the Climate Change Act if the Tories win the next election, calling it a “catastrophic mistake”. The former prime minister joined other senior Tories, business leaders, scientists and the Church of England in attacking the plan, which would remove requirements for governments to set five-yearly carbon budgets up to 2050.
May said the move would upend 17 years of cross-party consensus on climate science. “To row back now would be a catastrophic mistake,” she said. “We owe it to our children and grandchildren to ensure we protect the planet for their futures.” Alok Sharma, the Tory peer and former Cop26 president, warned the policy risked alienating allies and discouraging voters, saying the UK had attracted tens of billions in investment thanks to its climate commitments.
Lord Deben, a former environment secretary under Margaret Thatcher, said none of Badenoch’s predecessors would have countenanced such a move. “This is not what Margaret Thatcher would have done,” he said. Business leaders also warned of economic damage. Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the CBI, said scrapping the act would be a “backwards step” and that the legislation had been a bedrock for investment, adding £83bn to the economy last year.
Repealing the 2008 act would also risk UK exports under the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, which imposes levies on countries without adequate carbon pricing. The act, passed with cross-party support, was the first such legislation globally and has been emulated by many other countries.
