Ditching climate targets will see Tories punished in next Election, Environment Secretary Therese...
Environment Secretary has said the Tories will lose the next General Election if they abandon green policies. In a warning to her colleagues who are lobbying the Prime Minister to drop climate commitments due to the cost-of-living crisis, she said voters cared about the planet. The Cabinet Minister addressed the issue for the first time since the Uxbridge by-election win prompted a rethink on the environmental agenda. In order to win the next Election, we need to continue to show that we care about the environment, she told The Mail on Sunday. We also need to show that there is a way to do that which doesnt put burdens on hard-working people. Her remarks will be taken as a show of defiance amid rumours that she is likely to be moved during a Cabinet reshuffle, which is expected in September. She said that the environment was important to voters and the Party, adding: Conservation is literally in our name. Theres been a lot of noise over the last few weeks about this Government walking away from the environment but the reality couldnt be further from the truth, she said. Trust us on our record, not on the clickbait, she added, insisting that the Government needed to continue campaigning to protect the climate to win over voters. Its a Conservative Government that has cut carbon faster than any G7 nation, and we did that while proving you dont need to add burdens on people. Ms Coffey added: Any Conservative knows that to have sustainable food security and economic prosperity you need to protect the environment. 'Our constituents care about their green spaces, and MPs get more emails about animal welfare than anything else. We have created or restored habitat the size of Dorset, established 100 Marine Protected Areas, improved the conservation status of 96 priority species and more. She added that Rishi Sunak himself was committed to setting environmental targets and working globally to protect the climate. Her defence came after former environment minister Zac Goldsmith claimed the Prime Minister was uninterested in green issues. That commitment to the environment extends to the Prime Minister himself, she said. One of the first things I spoke to him about was setting legally binding environmental targets, and the importance of agreeing a Global Deal for Nature at the UN summit in Montreal, which we were crucial to securing. As an MP, he personally campaigned for the coast-to-coast path, which will help improve peoples access to some of the loveliest parts of our country. The Tories narrowly retained Boris Johnsons former seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip in last months by-election. The unexpected win was attributed to how unpopular London Mayor Sadiq Khans Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) is in outer London. The result prompted calls for a rethink on the green agenda in both the Conservative and Labour parties. Mr Sunak later told motorists he was on their side, ordering a review of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, while Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Khan should reflect on Ulez. Mr Khan has increased the amount available under the scrappage scheme for vehicles but is pressing ahead with the extension of Ulez to outer London later this month. Under the scheme, drivers of the most polluting vehicles will be subject to a 12.50 daily charge.