Rishi Sunak gives speech on expected changes to UK’s net zero policies – UK politics live

Key events

Sunak says policies need overhaul because UK does not have ‘fairest credible path’ to net zero in 2050

Sunak says we need “sensible green leadership”, requiring “a wholly new kind of politics”.

So, how do we do that?

First, we need to change the debate.

At the moment we are stuck between people who want to abandon net zero, and people who want to go even further.

Both extremes are wrong, and fail to reflect the reality of the situation.

The question is – “do we have the fairest credible path to reach net zero by 2050 in a way that brings people with us”.

Sunak says he has looked at the policies, and concluded we don’t.

Sunak says UK needs ‘properly informed national debate’ on net zero

Back to the speech. Sunak says people want to do the right thing on climate change.

But it cannot be right for the government to ask people to make so many changes “without a properly informed national debate”.

And the UK can do this because it has already made so much progress, he says.

Updated at 11.40 EDT

This is not just a net zero speech. This is a full-on reset speech, presenting Rishi Sunak as a change candidate, not a continuity candidate.

The problem is – he’s left it a bit late. The chance for the change speech was when he took office.

Updated at 11.40 EDT

Sunak says the choice is: do we want to change our country, or carry on as we are?

He will set out examples in the coming months.

But today he is going to talk about how we change our country – on the climate change issue.

Updated at 11.41 EDT

Sunak says the government has made progress. But that is not enough if we are on a path which people do not like.

He is here to tell you “that we do not have to be powerless”, he says.

But only if we change, he says.

He says it is necessary to put long-term needs first.

Updated at 11.41 EDT

Sunak says UK has ‘stumbled into consensus’ about future ‘no one seems to be happy with’

Rishi Sunak is speaking now. People are frustrated with politics, he says.

And he knows people dislike Westminster short termism.

He says he has been PM for almost a year.

And he has concluded that decisions that can deliver real change can be so caveated that we have “stumbled into a consensus about the future of our country that no one seems to be happy with’.

‘Sensible, pragmatic changes’ – some Tory MPs say Sunak right to revise net zero targets

Here are some of the Conservative MPs who have tweeted in favour of delaying net zero targets.

From Karl McCartney

As a realist & member of the Transport Select Committee, I have been calling for a long time on the Government to take the common sense decision to delay the planned ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. Just as countries like France & Germany have. I am pleased

… that the Govt has seen the light. Costs to normal drivers will be high, electric charging infrastructure is not available & technology is too reliant on China. People complaining are Central London eco-zealots who don’t live in real world & are rich enough to be unaffected.2/2

From Mark Jenkinson

Sensible, pragmatic changes to timelines that haven’t yet been legislated for.

A majority are in favour of net zero as a target, but only the mad ones want us to make ourselves colder and poorer on the way.

Everything is reported through the lens of absolute zero, not net zero.

From Miriam Cates

My 1st car cost £600. I couldn’t have got to work without it. Young people can’t afford EVs. With petrol ban approaching, supply of 2nd hand combustion cars is falling & demand rising, pricing the young out of car ownership. It’s right to delay the ban

From Ben Bradley

We must have more pragmatic approach to ‘green’. In truth though Whitehall may say ‘get a new car, get a new boiler etc’ most people just can’t. Halting new petrol car sales 5y earlier than everywhere else would kill UK car manufacturing. Common sense has to win! Rishi is right.

From Brendan Clarke-Smith

Keeping the 2050 ambition but making these sensible changes about how we get there should be applauded.

This shows the PM is listening to what MPs and the public are both saying, not small but vocal groups with special interests. It doesn’t change our commitment to being a 1/2

world leader in reducing our emissions and moving to renewable sources, but it does address the concerns of those who think this can be done in a more effective and fair way that can be embraced by everyone 2/2

From James Sunderland

Synthetic fuels need a mention. Used extensively in motorsport, costs are falling fast, and they allow petrol & diesel engines to run as normal, but with zero emissions. The PM’s pragmatic easing of eco zealotry is another UK opportunity, not a threat!

Rishi Sunak due to deliver his speech on changing net zero targets shortly

Rishi Sunak is due to deliver his speech at 4.30pm. My colleague Pippa Crerar is in Downing Street with other journalists waiting for him to arrive, and she says the slogan on his lectern is “Long-term decisions for a brighter future”.

Sunak claimed he was putting “the long-term interests of our country before the short-term political needs of the moment” in the statement he issued last night. (See 9.46am.) All his critics, and probably most people at Westminster who could claim to be disinterested observers, think that he is doing the opposite.

Speaker condemns Sunak for announcing net zero policy changes less than 24 hours after Commons started recess

In the House of Lords Lord Callanan, an energy minister, is responding to a private notice question (the Lords equivalent of a Commons urgent question) on the net zero targets. He has been telling peers that the government remains committed to net zero, and that they should wait for the PM’s speech, which is due at 4.30pm.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, is furious that Sunak is not making his announcement in parliament. He can’t, because the Commons started its party conference recess at 6.52pm last night – even though the Liberal Democrat conference does not start until this weekend (they have just 15 MPs), and the Conservative one does not start until the following weekend.

In a statement Hoyle says:

If he had the power, the Speaker would recall the house immediately – and he is writing to the prime minister today to express that view in the strongest of terms.

This is a major policy shift, and it should have been announced when the house was sitting. Members with very different views on this issue have expressed their disquiet on the way this has been handled, especially as the Commons rose early last night, so there was plenty of time for this statement to be made.

Instead, the unelected House of Lords will have the opportunity to scrutinise this change in direction this afternoon, when it hears the government’s response to a private notice question on this issue.

This is not the way to do business. Ministers are answerable to MPs – we do not have a presidential system here.

The House of Commons is where laws are made, national debates are had – and where statements should be made.

Commons Speakers regularly complain about ministers sidelining parliament, but it is hard to recall any of them expressing their anger in a press release quite like this.

Updated at 11.31 EDT

Simon Evans, deputy editor of the CarbonBrief website, says that if Rishi Suank waters down net zero targets as reportedly planned, he will put the legally binding net zero targets in jeopardy.

UK govt climate policy U-turns put the country’s legally binding targets in jeopardy

The rollbacks are set to be announced shortly by PM Rishi Sunak

Emissions savings at risk cld put UK targets out of reach, inc Paris pledge & 6th carbon budget