UK plan to cut carbon emissions risks public ‘backlash’, chief minister warns

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s plans to tackle climate change risk drawing a “backlash” if they hit voters in the pocket, a top government minister warned Tuesday amid a fierce debate in British politics over environmental policy.

Both the ruling Conservatives and the opposition Labor Party have vowed to learn lessons from a by-election in London widely seen as a in fact referendum on a green tax aimed at cleaning the air in the capital.

Spurred on by that result, Leveling Up secretary Michael Gove told Times Radio on Tuesday: “It is important that the government follow through with appropriate and thoughtful steps to safeguard the environment, but there are some specific areas where the cost being imposed on people risks creating a backlash.”

The UK government has hinted in recent days that it may back away from some of its key climate policies, amid pressure from right-wing Conservative Party MPs.

In a series of interviews with broadcasters on Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that while the government will “move forward” towards its goal of reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, it will do so in a “way that does not unnecessarily create more problems and costs for people in their lives.”

Sunak was speaking after his party’s unexpected victory last week in a by-election in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, where opposition Conservative and Labor officials attributed the result to localized anger over the planned expansion of London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone, proposed by London Labor Mayor Sadiq Khan.

The prime minister also questioned whether the government would stick with its policy of banning sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

But in his morning round of interviews broadcast on Tuesday, Gove appeared to make a firm commitment that this particular policy is here to stay.

“We are committed to upholding our policy of ensuring that by 2030 there are no new gasoline and diesel cars sold,” Gove told the Today programme.

“I’m sure there are some people who would like to change that policy, I get it. But that policy remains,” he added.