Badenoch says ditching net zero will not cost jobs

The Conservative leader said net zero is "bankrupting our economy"

The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has denied scrapping a key climate change law would cost jobs in the north-east of England.

Badenoch said if she became prime minister her party would repeal the 2008 Climate Change Act which set targets for cutting carbon emissions and reaching net zero.

She has promised instead to replace it with a new strategy focused on generating "cheap energy".

Labour Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP, Luke Myer, said the policy would risk "thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of investment" in the region.

Badenoch's announcement has been criticised by Energy UK, the trade association which represents most generators and suppliers.

It said the change would "pull the rug" on investment in places like Teesside without reducing bills.

The association's members include MGT and Sembcorp, which run renewable energy plants in Teesside, and Equinor, which is developing two carbon capture projects there.

'Bankrupting our economy'

Chief executive Dhara Vyas said: "Treating the Climate Change Act as a political football is a sure fire way to scare off investors.

"It has given businesses the confidence to invest in jobs, skills, and innovation that benefit people in areas like the Humber, Teesside, and across the whole country.

"Pulling out the rug from under these critical investments will do nothing to lower energy bills."

In an interview with BBC North East & Cumbria political editor Richard Moss, the Conservative leader said the legislation's targets to achieve net zero carbon emissions were driving out businesses.

She said: "They are destroying more jobs than they are creating.

"We are bankrupting our economy. Oil and gas is disappearing, manufacturing is disappearing.

"I've heard businesses all around the country say we can't afford the energy prices here and it is because of a lot of the decisions we are taking on net zero."

Luke Myer said the Conservatives' plan would risk jobs in the North East

Badenoch also insisted there was evidence the change could cut energy bills and claimed she had modelled her proposals' impact on bills.

She said: "We believe climate change is happening and we need plans to tackle it, but just because it's got the name net zero on it doesn't mean we should keep something that isn't working."

The Climate Change Act was brought in under Gordon Brown's Labour government to reduce UK carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

Its targets were strengthened by the Conservatives under Theresa May in 2019 to commit the country to reach net zero emissions by the same deadline.

Badenoch's announcement has been criticized by the Liberal Democrats while Labour's energy secretary Ed Miliband called the change a "disaster".

Myer said: "There are currently over 8,000 jobs in green industries on Teesside, with thousands more on the way in carbon capture, turbine manufacture, hydrogen and solar.

"The Conservatives' desperate position is not only backwards, it would risk thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of investment in our region."