All vehicles in the UK will require “zero-emissions capability” by 2035, the government has said in its much-delayed Net Zero Strategy, which sets out plans for Britain to be powered entirely by clean electricity come the same year.
In the document, published on Tuesday, ministers commit £620m to zero-emission vehicle grants and more infrastructure for electric cars in residential areas.
Boris Johnson said his strategy for achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 shows how “we can build back greener, without so much as a hair shirt in sight”.
Announcing the long-awaited plans in the Commons today, business minister Greg Hands told MPs if they did not “take action now, we will continue to see the worst effects of climate change” – despite the measures being revealed just 12 days before the Cop26 climate summit.
Labour figures were quick to attack the report, saying it doesn’t go nearly far enough to combat the climate crisis. Clive Lewis, the MP for Norwich South, branded it a “burn now, pay later document” and said its entire 368-page contents is filled with “strategy that isn’t fit for purpose”.
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Police intervene as Gove approached by anti-lockdown activists
Michael Gove had to be escorted by police today after demonstrators involved in an anti-lockdown protest attempted to surround him in the street.
The communities secretary was approached by a number of people with video cameras as he walked through central London, with footage shared on social media showing the Cabinet minister quickly being encircled by police officers who moved the protesters back.
It comes amid concerns over security for MPs following the fatal stabbing of Southend West MP Sir David Amess last week, who was killed while delivering a constituency surgery.
Mr Gove, who was carrying a bag, a file and a drink at the time, was asked by an officer where he was going.
He pointed down the street and officers then put themselves between the MP and protesters as they helped him to make his way into a nearby building.
Watch: PM says private sector ‘trillions’ key to tackling climate crisis
PM must scrap plans to ban future Troubles prosecutions – campaigner
Let’s step away from the Net Zero Strategy for a moment. A man whose son was murdered by loyalist paramilitaries in north Belfast in 1997 said Boris Johnson must scrap plans to ban future prosecutions related to the Troubles.
Raymond McCord, father of Raymond McCord Jr, made the remarks following a meeting at Westminster on Wednesday, which he said “couldn’t have gone better”.
“In the wake of what’s happened here today at Westminster, for us and the sake of democracy and truth and justice, [Mr Johnson] has to take these proposals away. They have to be scrapped.”
Looking ahead, he said:
“We feel more hopeful to see the support. Six weeks ago people wouldn’t have dreamt that this was going to happen. Look what it has built into in a matter of weeks in support. And that’s just from nine people, nine individuals, getting together.
“You think what all the victims, if they get together in Northern Ireland, can do.”
McCord (centre) leads victims of the Troubles and their families through Parliament Square, Westminster, on Tuesday
” height=”726″ width=”982″ srcset=”https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/10/19/15/newFile-12.jpg?width=640&auto=webp&quality=75 640w” layout=”responsive” class=”i-amphtml-layout-responsive i-amphtml-layout-size-defined” i-amphtml-layout=”responsive”> McCord (centre) leads victims of the Troubles and their families through Parliament Square, Westminster, on Tuesday
Climate Change Committee praises net zero plans: ‘We have a plan’
Despite some negative reaction to the government’s net zero announcement today, the Climate Change Committee gave a positive initial response.
Chris Stark, chief executive of the advisory group, described it as a “substantial step forward, which lays out clearly the government’s ambitions to cut emissions across the economy over the coming 15 years and beyond”.
Put simply, he said: “We didn’t have a plan before, now we do.”
Mr Stark also praised the strategy for providing “much more clarity about what lies ahead for businesses and individuals” and what is needed over the “coming decades to deliver a net zero nation” – a goal the government has committed to achieving by 2050.
“The critical next step is turning words into deeds,” he added.
Heat pumps: What is government’s plan to replace old gas boilers?
Following my earlier post (2.45pm), Zoe Tidman has laid out what the government’s heat pump scheme actually entails.
The government said new £5,000 grants will be available to households to help them to install low-carbon technologies, including heat pumps, from next April in a bid to encourage people to replace their old gas boilers.
The plans aim to make heat pumps – which run on electricity and work like a fridge in reverse to extract energy from the air or ground – no more expensive to install than a traditional boiler.
But environmentalists have criticised the three-year scheme, which would pay for one in 250 boilers to be replaced, as not going far enough.
Government ‘shafting’ Scotland with new net zero plans, claim SNP
Back to reaction to the Net Zero Strategy announcement now.
SNP business spokesman Stephen Flynn accused Boris Johnson’s government of “shafting” Scotland after the new net zero plans revealed Holyrood will miss out on funding for a new carbon capture facility.
Mr Flynn, the MP for for Aberdeen South, said it showed ministers “were repeating the same mistake” they made in 2015 when the plug was pulled “on a billion pounds of carbon capture and storage investment in Peterhead”.
“A betrayal of the northeast of Scotland by pulling the rug out from underneath the Acorn Project. He knows that Scotland cannot meet its net zero ambitions without carbon capture and underground storage. So can I ask him, why is he shafting Scotland?”
Energy minister Greg Hands, taking questions, responded:
“He missed the fact that I explained the basis behind the decision. The government policy has always been clear that there’d be two industrial clusters by the mid-2020s, before by 2030 at the latest, we’ve announced the Acorn Cluster as a reserve.
Doctors Without Borders to give evidence against Patel’s boat-turning proposal
Boiler scheme does not include plans for ‘every house,’ minister admits
More on the much-discussed heat pump alternative to boilers now.
While taking questions about the government’s Net Zero Strategy in the Commons, business minister Greg Hands signalled the plan to upgrade UK boilers does not include funds for every single house to be provided with a heat pump.
Instead, Mr Hands said, it will show a “signal” to the private sector and kickstart that market.
Responding to Labour former minister Hilary Benn’s question about ensuring “all of the households in our communities are able to make the transition to a zero carbon future”, Mr Hands said:
“We remain absolutely committed to our existing target of 600,000 homes per annum having a heat pump by the year 2028. The scheme announced today shows that direction of travel. We are not saying this is a scheme that is going to provide a heat pump for every house.
“This is a scheme which will kickstart that market. We’ve already seen really positive reactions. I mentioned the reaction from Octopus Energy and others in the sector, who said actually overnight, that they think that they can deliver an equivalent price.
“That’s where the opportunity for [Mr Benn’s] and my constituents lie, not in the government coming along replacing everybody’s gas boiler, but actually by the government sending a signal kickstarting that market, showing a signal that we want the private sector to respond positively.”
Watch: Insulate Britain protester tied to railing by furious driver
Raab ‘repeatedly warned about swift Taliban takeover of Kabul’
In cased you missed this from earlier, diplomatic cables have revealed the British ambassador to Afghanistan repeatedly warned Dominic Raab Kabul would swiftly fall into Taliban hands.
Newly uncovered telegrams show Sir Laurie Bristow emphasised the Islamist militant group was seizing cities across Afghanistan and was on the brink of taking back total control of the country, despite the Foreign Office claiming the takeover came as a surprise.
Mr Raab, then foreign secretary, has previously been accused of being “asleep at the wheel” amid the Taliban surge, writes Thomas Kingsley.
