Former prime minister Theresa May has condemned Kemi Badenoch's pledge to repeal the Climate Change Act if the Conservatives win the next general election, describing the proposal as a “catastrophic mistake”. May joined other senior Tories, business leaders, scientists and the Church of England in opposing the plan, which would remove the requirement for governments to set five-yearly carbon budgets up to 2050.
May called the move “retrograde”, saying it would upend 17 years of cross-party consensus on climate policy. “To row back now would be a catastrophic mistake for while that consensus is being tested, the science remains the same,” she said. The Climate Change Act, passed in 2008 with Labour and Conservative support, was the first legislation of its kind globally and has since been replicated by many other countries.
Alok Sharma, the former COP26 president, warned that abandoning the act risked deterring investment and harming the UK's international standing. “Turning our back on this progress now risks future investment and jobs into our country, as well as our international standing,” he said. Lord Deben, a former environment secretary under Margaret Thatcher, said none of Badenoch's predecessors would have countenanced such a move.
Business leaders also voiced alarm. Rain Newton-Smith, CEO of the CBI, said scrapping the act would be “a backwards step” for economic growth and energy security. She noted that the legislation had stimulated investment, with the energy transition adding £83bn to the economy last year and supporting nearly a million jobs. “Ripping up the framework that’s given investors confidence … would damage our economy,” she added.
