Rishi Sunak has rejected demands to hold a Brexit-style referendum on net zero, facing down calls from his party to give the public a vote on the 2050 climate target.
He told ITV News: “Most people are committed to getting to net zero”.
In recent weeks, “Red Wall” MPs have been among Conservatives urging Mr Sunak to “rethink the headlong rush for net zero” as the PM appeared to back away from some climate policies in the wake of his party’s surprise victory over Labour in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.
The Uxbridge victory was viewed as coming as a result of the party’s campaigning against the expansion of ULEZ in London.
Asked on Wednesday whether he would put a vote on net zero to the public, the prime minister told ITV: “I think actually there’s agreement on it. Most people are committed to getting to net zero but getting there in a proportionate and pragmatic way. That seems to me the common sense approach to doing this that has broad support”
He added: “I have two young daughters, I care about the environment that we — I — leave them. My job is to leave it in a better state than I found it. … So, my view is I’m committed to it. We will get there”
Mr Sunak was also questioned about Greenpeace targeting his constituency home while he was away on holiday in the US with his family.
A group of demonstrators scaled the Sunaks’ Grade II-listed constituency manor house in Richmond, North Yorkshire, to protest against his oil and gas licences announcement.
The activists draped an oil-black fabric from the roof over the building before they were arrested and later bailed as part of an ongoing investigation by North Yorkshire Police.
The prime minister suggested he agreed that it should not have been possible for protesters to get to his Yorkshire home, but said it “wouldn’t be right” for him to comment further following the arrests.
He added that he had given the police additional powers to crack down on “these kinds of eco extremists, these eco zealots, the Just Stop Oil and others who are disrupting all these sporting events over the summer in particular.”
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8.26 am — Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has insisted it is not unfair that A-level students are being graded differently in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It comes as the exams regulator in England has warned that grades will likely be lower as the grading system returns to its pre-pandemic iteration.
In Wales and Northern Ireland, exam regulators have said they do not plan to return to pre-pandemic grading until 2024.
The reality is that those systems are different anyway, they’re different awarding bodies,” Ms Keegan told Sky News when asked if there were questions about fairness.
University admissions officers know the difference in these systems so they’re quite sophisticated in understanding the difference between the English system and the Scottish system.
Ms Keegan also urged students to not be disappointed if their grades aren’t as high as they’d hoped.
They shouldn’t be disappointed, they have just done an amazing job and really they should be congratulating themselves, and I want to congratulate them because they have worked so hard. They have faced disruption, they have been the cohort that’s gone through the pandemic.
But it is really important that we have a grading system that holds its value.
“They have done an amazing job, they’ve proven their resilience, they will get the grades and the objective is it will go back equal to the 2019 system.
7.40 am — Scottish Labour has said “the age of SNP dominance is over” in Scotland following a poll which showed that Keir Starmer’s is poised to win 22 seats north of the border at the next election.
Dame Jackie Baillie, the deputy Scottish Labour leader, said:
The polls are increasingly clear – the age of SNP dominance is over and the people of Scotland are increasingly turning to Scottish Labour.
From plans to generate thousands of green jobs by harnessing Scotland’s energy potential to smashing the class ceiling, it is clear that only Labour has the vision and hunger for change that is shared by the Scottish people.
Scottish Labour takes nothing for granted, but we will fight day in and day out to take on the SNP and Tories and give Scotland the fresh start it needs.
7.20 am — Rishi Sunak has rejected demands to hold a Brexit-style referendum on net zero, facing down calls from his party to give the public a vote on the 2050 climate target.
He told ITV News: “Most people are committed to getting to net zero”.
In recent weeks, “Red Wall” MPs have been among Conservatives urging Mr Sunak to “rethink the headlong rush for net zero” as the PM appeared to back away from some climate policies in the wake of his party’s surprise victory over Labour in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.
The Uxbridge victory was viewed as coming as a result of the party’s campaigning against the expansion of ULEZ in London.
Asked on Wednesday whether he would put a vote on net zero to the public, the prime minister told ITV:
I think actually there’s agreement on it. Most people are committed to getting to net zero but getting there in a proportionate and pragmatic way. That seems to me the common sense approach to doing this that has broad support
7.00 am — Good morning and welcome back to “Politics Live”, politics.co.uk’s rolling coverage of the day’s key moments in Westminster and beyond. Here you can keep up to date with today’s major debates, press conferences and news events in real time. Here’s what’s happening today:
- It’s A level results day and education secretary Gillian Keegan and her Labour shadow Bridget Phillipson are both on the morning media round to face questions.
- Downing Street has said it has no plans for a bank holiday should England win Sunday’s Women’s World Cup final. But Labour leader Keir Starmer has insisted he wants one.
- There will also be reaction from Rishi Sunak’s mini interview round yesterday in which he spoke to The Times and ITV News.
Stay with us and we’ll bring you all the latest developments as they unfold.
