Brits split over Sunak’s net zero delays, poll reveals
The British public is divided over Rishi Sunak’s decision to delay some of the UK’s net zero plans, fresh polling by YouGov has revealed.
Sunak said yesterday that he will push the ban on buying new petrol and diesel cars back from 2030 to 2035, as well as relaxing the timeline on the shift to heating homes with green energy.
New polling published by YouGov today found that 38 per cent of voters believe the government should keep all its current climate change plans in place, while 44 per cent agree with Sunak’s delays.
Most Brits, 65 per cent, want to keep the broader 2050 net zero target in place, however, according to the poll of 3,201 British adults conducted yesterday .
Of those that support Sunak’s delays, 27 per cent wanted to keep the 2050 target in place, while 17 per cent wanted to abandon it.
Some 61 per cent of Labour voters want to keep all net zero plans in place, compared to just 19 per cent of Conservative voters.
However, 68 per cent of Conservative voters are in favour of delaying or dropping the current climate change plans, compared to just 26 per cent of Labour voters.
Sunak said today he was confident climate targets would still be met when asked if he was prepared for legal challenges against his new plans.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are absolutely not slowing down efforts to combat climate change.
“I am very proud of our country’s leadership. We have decarbonised faster than any other major economy in the G7, not a fact you hear reported that often,” he said.
Meanwhile the Labour Party has pledged it would reinstate the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 if elected into government.