Priti Patel said: We must pause all net zero targets

Priti Patel said: We must pause all net zero targets.

Dame Priti Patel has urged the Government to pause its net zero targets, warning that voters were being “left behind” by the pursuit of green policies.

The former home secretary ‘criticised’ a “corrosive culture” of pursuing time-limited targets amid pressure on ministers to redraw their environmental objectives.

Conservative backbenchers have urged a rethink after Labour failed to win this month’s Uxbridge by-election amid a voter backlash against the expansion of London’s ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez).

In an interview with Camilla Tominey on GB News, Dame Priti said: “My views on this are that actually we need to pause all this activity – 2030 is not that far away you know, click your fingers [and] 2050 will be upon us.

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel speaks exclusively to GB News about de-banking, net zero and the Government’s efforts to crack down on illegal migration. Dame Priti told GB News: “We need to pause all this activity. 2030 is not that far away, in a click of fingers 2050 will be upon us. The public are not ready for this.

“And importantly, we cannot just have the state, the government, central government just sort of saying across, again, institutions, local councils, county councils, these are the targets that you have to meet when we don’t have the technology.

“We’re not ready. Now, if we want a sensible conversation about climate and the impact of climate change, recognising there are problems is one thing, absolutely.

“The public are not ready for this, and importantly we cannot just have the state, the Government, just sort of saying ‘these are the targets that you have to meet’ when we don’t have the technology. We’re not ready.

“Now if we want a sensible conversation about climate and the impact of climate change, recognising there are problems is one thing, but making sure that we have the tools and the ability that doesn’t impose costs and taxes on ordinary people, this is the space we have to be in. And we’re not – we’re not in that space at all.”

Warning against “mission creep”, Ms Patel added: “My county council is talking about net zero, all local authorities are. Now they can talk about it but stop spending our money, quite frankly, when public funds need to be targeted and spent on issues on public service delivery, first and foremost – statutory services.”

Her comments come after the Conservatives’ narrow victory in the Uxbridge and Ruislip by-election earlier this month, which saw the Tory candidate tap into local concerns about the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zones (Ulez).

That success has seen some Tory MPs on the right of the party urge Mr Sunak to engage in a rethink on net zero, amid hopes of attacking Labour’s green ambitions.

But the intervention also comes after a shock warning on climate from UN secretary general António Guterres, who said: “The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.”