Former PM admits he pushed too hard on the transition without considering costs
Boris Johnson has admitted he “went far too fast” on net zero when he was prime minister, conceding he “got carried away” by the idea that renewables could replace fossil fuels.
In comments published in The Telegraph ahead of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Mr Johnson said the rush to decarbonise had made electricity “too expensive for ordinary people” and that Labour’s 2050 net zero target should be pushed back.
“I think net zero, we went far too fast. And I’ve got to be honest about that, I got carried away by the idea that sustainable and renewable forms of energy could fill the gap,” he said.
“When the price went up and the Ukraine thing happened, it was obvious that that wouldn’t work… You’ve got to be like St Augustine. You’ve got to say, ‘we will be chaste, but not yet.’”
Mr Johnson insisted he was not calling for the UK to abandon net zero, warning against “junking it altogether” because “a lot of people out there do worry about the environment and don’t want to feel their government is just completely abandoning the agenda.”
The remarks come just days after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch pledged to scrap the 2008 Climate Change Act, calling it “a straitjacket on Britain’s economy”. Her stance has been condemned by environmental groups and described as a “catastrophic mistake” by former prime minister Theresa May.
Mr Johnson’s intervention, part of a forthcoming book Prosperity Through Growth, co-authored with Tory peer Lord Elliott and US economist Dr Arthur Laffer, underscores growing divisions inside the Conservative Party over climate policy.
Echoing comments made earlier this year by Sir Tony Blair, Mr Johnson said voters were “being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know the impact on global emissions is minimal”.
He agreed with Blair that net zero was moving “too fast” and was “too expensive for ordinary people”.
Former chancellor Lord Hammond has also warned that the Treasury’s estimate of £1–2 trillion to reach net zero by 2050 would hit public finances hard.
Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho is expected to outline the Conservatives’ energy and climate plans in her conference speech later today.
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