Sunak banks on political gain from climate policy shiftpublished at 17:21 British Summer Time 20 September 2023

17:21 BST 20 September 2023

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Rishi Sunak’s argument is that he can achieve net zero without some of the tools his predecessors bequeathed him.

That’s for experts to pronounce upon.

But the PM also claims he's making hard choices.

Allowing the sale of petrol and diesel cars for longer seems much more like a soft option, bringing the UK into line with some other countries and reassuring some motorists that their carbon-fuelled cars won’t lose their value quite so fast.

The PM says he's convinced his measures will have "broad support".

So politically he sniffs a win.

He will attract criticism from some prominent Conservatives.

But at the next election, he will hope the political benefit of easing off on some green policies, and appearing to help families with the cost of living, will outweigh the risk that his party appears divided.

Just before the end of the session, there was a question from the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar, who asked for more specifics on how targets were going to be replaced.

She also noted that the prime minister had previously said he listened to his daughters on climate change issues.

“Do you think they are going to buy it?” she asked, in relation to the new policies.

“Because of all of the things that I talked about earlier, the fact we have consistently over delivered", those are reasons the UK is going to reach its goals, said Sunak.

On his daughters’ response, he said it was “absolutely wrong” to describe what he was doing as “watering down” climate targets.

“Our commitment to net zero… remains.”

The prime minister has finished taking questions and has left the lectern.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest reaction to Sunak's announcement delaying some key green targets. We'll also have analysis from BBC experts and correspondents.

The next question is from the Daily Mail, which asks if the government can deliver the carbon package without changing the law, and if Sunak is confident he can carry the party and win over those who are opposed to the plans.

Sunak says the government is committed to all its international and domestic targets, and it is confident the country is on track to meet all its obligations.

On the debate within his own party, he says there will be a range of different opinions on this issue, but the debate has been driven by far too much emotion and not enough clarity.

Sunak says there are extremes on either side of the discussion, but neither are right.

He repeats his line that he is being realistic and proportionate.

The PM is asked by the Times how his policy on gas boilers differs from what has already been announced.

People off the grid were going to have to make "exorbitantly expensive" changes to their boilers, but that is now not happening, the prime minister says.

There is also a boiler scrappage scheme which offers people £5,000 to replace their boiler and from today this will be upped to £7,500, he says.

"This is the right way to do it," he says, rather than introducing bans.

The third question is from GB News, asking how much the changes will save the average family - and asking if the changes should be put to a public referendum.

Sunak says for some people it would have cost them “upwards of £5,000, £10,000, £15,000” for things like boiler upgrades.

He says energy efficiency upgrades would have cost on average £8,000.

“I get that lots of people out there will be critical of what I am doing today”, he says, but the question for those people is to “justify” to those families around the country how to find the money to spend on the upgrades.

On the referendum question, Sunak says "we've had enough referendums, quite frankly" to some laughter in the room.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Oil and gas is another dividing line with the official opposition.

Labour says while fossil fuels will be part of the energy mix for decades to come, there will be no new licences from them for the North Sea if it wins the election.

Perhaps seeking to exploit some unions’ unease with Labour's policy, the PM has confirmed there will be clear blue water between him and Sir Keir Starmer on this issue.

Carrying on with questions from political journalists in the room, ITV's Robert Peston says the UK has had years of under investment and points out the PM promised to deliver stability when he took office - and then asks if he has now "pulled the rug" and is now "undelivering" on stability.

Sunak responds by insisting he is putting in the right policies to get to net zero.

He says the government is making progress towards electric vehicles by 2035.

"We are doubling down on grid infrastructure," Sunak says adding his Cabinet colleagues are asked repeatedly by businesses about how they can join the grid.

He hails his new ideas as making "a transformative difference" towards planning infrastructure.

Sunak eases deadlines but creates new strainspublished at 17:03 British Summer Time 20 September 2023

17:03 BST 20 September 2023

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Rishi Sunak has "eased" the transition to electric vehicles.

But he won’t have eased tensions in his own party.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove only recently said the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles was "immovable".

The PM has just moved it.

There will be cheers from some backbenchers, but he will be denounced by some in the automotive industry.

And the move will create uncertainty.

As it's likely that Labour – ahead in the polls – will re-commit itself to the original 2030 deadline.

The first question is from the BBC's Chris Mason, who asks if the PM is implementing these policy changes because he is panicking about losing the election.

Sunak says he's been thinking about these issues for a long time and as chancellor he was concerned about the impact some policies would have on families.

He says he didn't think it was right at the time and now as PM he has the opportunity to change things.

Sunak adds he doesn't want to make short-term decisions and take the easy way out.

He says he's trying to make sure the country is on the path to deliver net zero in a fair and proportional way.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

One of Rishi Sunak’s tasks is to create dividing lines with the opposition.

The Conservatives squeaked home in the Uxbridge by-election by doing just that over the Ulez scheme to reduce air pollution.

But speaking just now he also criticised his Tory predecessors for not levelling with people over net zero - and denounced some of the measures announced by Boris Johnson's government.

He claimed these put unnecessary burdens on voters.

In conclusion Sunak says the government is taking a pragmatic approach.

We know that he has high-profile critics in his own party over these changes.

But, "consent not imposition, honesty not obfuscation, pragmatism not ideology, are the keys to meeting the challenge of net zero," he says.

Sunak finishes by saying that the government is going to "change the way politics works".

Image source, EPA

The prime minister says the UK has always excelled at “innovation and new technologies”.

On this point, he says he will set out the “next stage” of the environmental agenda before COP28 in Dubai later this year.

Sunak says now the UK is already home to four of the world's largest offshore wind farms.

The auction process is being improved to maximise private investment and the ban on onshore winds is being lifted, he says.

Sunak says new nuclear power stations are being built for the first time in 30 years.

The government decided this week to raise long term funding for Sizewell C.

Sunak says that we can never allow carbon budgets to be decided in the same way again.

He says the current levels were set with a 17-minute debate in the House of Commons.

"It was the carbon equivalent of promising to boost government spending, with no way to pay for it," he says.

He says in the future he wants to see the government consider the plans to meet carbon budgets at the same time as setting them.

Sunak is now addressing what he says are “worrying proposals” which have been made about climate change.

These include the “number of passengers you can have in your car”, a proposal that people should use seven different recycling bins, proposals to tax meat, or new taxes to discourage flying.

After reading out each of these, the prime minister says “I’ve scrapped it”.

It's unclear who made these proposals and at what level they were being considered.

Image source, Reuters

Sunak talks about another new exemption he is bringing in today.

The boiler upgrade scheme will be increased by 50% to £7,500, he says.

"No strings attached," Sunak explains as he adds that the money will never need to be repaid.

Sunak says heat pumps need to be made cheaper without imposing high costs on hard-pressed families at a time while technology is still expensive.

So households will have more time make the transition to heat pumps, and they will only have to make the switch when they're changing their boiler anyway, and not until 2035.

An exemption will be introduced for some households, he says.

Here come the policy announcements. The public will still be able to buy new diesel and petrol vehicles until 2035, the PM says, a delay of five years on the current plan to ban them by 2030.

Even after that they will be able to be sold second-hand, he says. This will align the UK with EU countries like Germany, France, Spain and Italy and some US states - such as California, New York and Massachusetts, he adds.

Sunak goes to reiterate the UK's commitment to agreements made at the COP conferences in Glasgow and Paris.

“I am unequivocal that we will meet our international agreements,” he says."

On electric vehicles, he notes the investment the UK has secured from Jaguar Land Rover to build a new gigafactory, and says he “expects” that by 2030 the “vast majority of cars” sold will be electric because of falling costs.

"At least for now, it should be you, the consumer that makes that choice - not the government forcing you to do it," he says.