Hallelujah — Kemi Badenoch has thrown Net Zero under a bus
Finally, 8 weeks after Donald Trump was sworn in, the UK conservative party says what skeptics and many conservatives have been saying for ten or twenty years. Perhaps they were jolted into action by the shocking polls that showed — from out of nowhere, the Reform Party was polling just as well, or even better than the 200 year old Conservative party.
Conservatives supporting global weather witchcraft and UN fantasies are facing an existential threat.
The GWPF is delighted, of course, having warned about the dire Net Zero outcomes for 15 years. And Kemi Badenoch blasts the old policies, calling them “fantasy politics” that cost the Earth, drive up the cost of electricity, while “not really” protecting the environment. She’s realized no one had a detailed plan, and if they did, sensationally, she says they wouldn’t talk about it because it would reveal “just how catastrophic the actual costs will be for families, for businesses, and for our economy.” In a blockbuster moment, she even admits the futility of it all saying that the UK has done more on carbon emissions that anyone in the developed world, but they were only responsible for 1% of the worlds emissions, and the world isn’t following them.
Her three big reasons are that the plans have no details, the targets are unrealistic, and they’re far too dependent on China for everything, which is 60% powered by coal. Finally, a Western Leader admitting that “leading the way” on climate change is pointless if no one else is following you.
This marks a major change in the Tory party plan — and even though the UK election is not for another four years, it will finally allow the conservatives to point out all the silly flaws in the government climate plan, instead of just promising to be a different shade of crazy themselves.
Kemi Badenoch’s speech: (some excerpts)
Net zero by 2050 “is fantasy politics. Built on nothing. Promising the earth. And costing it too.”
Today, I’m talking about one of the biggest ways we are destroying our children’s inheritance.
Let’s start by telling the truth on energy and net zero. Every single thing we do in our daily lives is dependent on cheap, abundant energy.
When energy became cheap and abundant, living standards began to rise, health and life expectancy grew. Cheap, abundant energy is the foundation of civilisation as we know it today. We mess with it at our peril. And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing for twenty years. And it’s now starting to cause real pain for everyday people and businesses. The cost of electricity – far too high – much higher than nearby and comparative countries with the real possibility of it going even higher with environmental levies.
It’s fantasy politics. Built on nothing. Promising the earth. And costing it too.
She lays out the pointless hypocrisy of it all — though doesn’t twist the knife — did Nick Clegg care at all about CO2?
I remember Nick Clegg dismissing the idea of building new nuclear because it would not come online until 2022. That decision has cost us billions.
Given that the conservatives legislated many of the suicidal Net Zero ideas themselves, there is a mountain they have to climb, to convince voters they really mean it:
…the political class has lost trust. The only way that we can regain it is to tell the unvarnished truth. Net zero by 2050 is impossible.
I don’t say that with pleasure. I want a better future and a better environment for our children. But we have to get real.
Anyone who has done any serious analysis knows it cannot be achieved without a significant drop in our living standards or worse, by bankrupting us.
Let me give you three truths at the heart of net zero.
Nigel Farage blasted back with — “Fooling No One”
…Reform UK leader Mr Farage, whose party had already pledged to ditch the target, accused her of desperation. The Clacton MP said: “Kemi is fooling no one. Let’s not forget that she happily waved through Conservative government legislation on this, including enshrining net zero by 2050 into law. “If she truly believed this would bankrupt the country, why didn’t she voice her opposition sooner? This is a desperate policy from a leader and party floundering in the polls in an attempt to hitch themselves onto Reform’s momentum.
The Conservatives have a lot of work to do to earn trust after years of sabotaging their own country.
More of her speech below:
First: the published plans are completely muddled.
It is true that the UK has made the greatest progress on carbon emissions in the developed world. Yet we are only responsible for 1% of global emissions.Even if we hit absolute zero, we will not have net zero around the world, if other countries are not following us. And they are not. They certainly will not if they see us bankrupting ourselves to get there.
Our success at reducing emissions has also come at a significant cost: the highest electricity bills in the developed world.
…we must effectively build two systems of electricity generation – one based on renewables and one not. One for when the sun shines and the wind blows. And one for when they don’t.
The real reason no one in their government is talking about a proper overall plan is that they know it would reveal just how catastrophic the actual costs will be for families, for businesses, and for our economy. Those costs include families being forced to replace perfectly functioning cars, boilers, and cookers with more expensive, less reliable versions of the same thing.
[The Second truth]: even where there is a plan, we’re behind.
By 2040, the Committee on Climate Change says more than half of UK homes need to rip out their boilers and replace them with a heat pump.There is no way we can do this quickly enough on that timescale.17 million houses need to be fitted with an expensive heat pump in just 15 years. How many houses have one now? Fewer than 300,000 – because heat pumps run on a lot of expensive electricity and it turns out, many people just don’t like them.
But let’s look at the good statistics. Last year saw the highest number of heat pumps ever installed in the UK, 50,000. That’s the best we’ve ever done. So, at that rate it’ll take 340 years not 15 to get to the target.
The third truth.We are massively exposing ourselves to countries who don’t share our values.
Take solar panels – the good news is that costs have dropped in the last decade.
But here’s the less good news. Ten years ago, we were heavily dependent on China for all of the key components. Today we’re even more dependent.
….60% of their supply comes from coal fired power stations.
Those three truths are why I call myself a net zero sceptic. Muddled plans, unrealistic targets and deadlines, over-reliance on China.
We have got to start acknowledging what is in plain sight.
UK Flag photo: Rian (Ree) Saunders
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