Rishi Sunak said he plans to continue with his smoking ban after New Zealand reversed its own flagship policy.

New Zealand’s new coalition government has announced its intention to revoke legislation passed by the previous liberal administration designed to make it a smoke-free nation.

Last year the country became the first in the world to outlaw smoking for the next generation. The policy meant anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 would never be able to buy tobacco.

It provided a blueprint for Mr Sunak’s tough measures announced at the Tory party conference in Manchester last month.

The prime minister said England’s ban means: “A 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and… they and their generation can grow up smoke-free.”

Asked whether Mr Sunak would consider following Wellington’s lead, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said: “No, our position remains unchanged.

“We are committed to that.

“This is an important long-term decision and step to deliver a smoke-free generation which remains critically important.”

It means the UK will likely have the toughest smoking laws in the world once New Zealand’s reversal comes into effect.

The U-turn in New Zealand comes after a new coalition deal ended six weeks of negotiations following the general election on October 14.

The election saw the country shift to the right, with a win for the Conservative National Party under Christopher Luxon ending six years of a Labour government.

Under New Zealand’s proportional voting system, parties typically need to form alliances in order to command a governing majority.

Some Tory MPs have criticised Mr Sunak’s smoking ban, alongside the tobacco industry.

Hailed by health campaigners, critics have described it as “illiberal”, “anti-Conservative” and compared it to “creeping prohibition”.

Former prime minister Liz Truss is among those set to vote against the move, when it goes to a free vote in the Commons.

However the legislation is likely to pass, with Labour signalling it will support the measure.

Smoking is the UK’s biggest preventable killer, causing around one in four cancer deaths and leading to 64,000 deaths per year in England, according to Dr Javed Khan’s 2022 review into making smoking obsolete.

It is hoped the policy will prevent tens of thousands of deaths and save the NHS billions of pounds.

Downing Street said it expects up to 1.7 million fewer people to be smoking by 2075 as a result.

Source : Sky News

The post Rishi Sunak’s Position on Smoking Ban ‘Unchanged’ as New Zealand Scraps Policy appeared first on Policy Print.

Rishi Sunak is considering weakening some of the government’s key green commitments in a major policy shift.

It could include delaying a ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel cars and phasing out gas boilers, multiple sources have told the BBC.

The PM is preparing to set out the changes in a speech in the coming days.

Responding to the reported plans, he said the government was committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but in a “more proportionate way”.

The aim of net zero is for the UK to take out of the atmosphere as many greenhouse gas emissions – such as carbon dioxide – as it puts in.

The prime minister said: “For too many years politicians in governments of all stripes have not been honest about costs and trade-offs. Instead they have taken the easy way out, saying we can have it all.

“This realism doesn’t mean losing our ambition or abandoning our commitments. Far from it.

“I am proud that Britain is leading the world on climate change.”

He said the UK was committed to international climate agreements it had already made.

“No leak will stop me beginning the process of telling the country how and why we need to change,” he said.

Mr Sunak added that he would give a speech later this week “to set out an important long-term decision we need to make so our country becomes the place I know we all want it to be for our children”.

If he presses ahead with the plan it would represent a significant shift in the Conservative Party’s approach to net zero policy, as well as establishing a clear dividing line with the Labour Party.

According to multiple sources briefed on Downing Street’s thinking, Mr Sunak would use the speech to hail the UK as a world leader on net zero.

But he would also argue that Britain has over-delivered on confronting climate change and that other countries need to do more to pull their weight.

Some specifics of the speech are still thought to be under discussion, but as it stands it could include as many as seven core policy changes or commitments, documents seen by the BBC suggest.

First, the government would push the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars – currently set to come into force in 2030 – back to 2035. The 2030 date has been government policy since 2020.

Second, the government would significantly weaken the plan to phase out the installation of gas boilers by 2035, saying that they only want 80% to be phased out by that year.

Third, homeowners and landlords would be told that there will be no new energy efficiency regulations on homes. Ministers had been considering imposing fines on landlords who fail to upgrade their properties to a certain level of energy efficiency.

Fourth, the 2026 ban on off-grid oil boilers will be delayed to 2035, with only an 80% phase out target at that date.

In addition, Britons will be told that there will be no new taxes to discourage flying, no government policies to change people’s diets and no measures to encourage carpooling.

Mr Sunak is also likely to rule out what he sees as burdensome recycling schemes.

The government had reportedly been considering a recycling strategy in which households would have had “seven bins” – with six separate recycling bins plus one for general waste.

Labour’s shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said it was “an absolute farce”, with “late night policy statements from the Downing Street bunker, as ever driven by the absolute chaos within the Conservative Party, with a weak Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak”.

He declined to say whether Labour would restore any targets that are ultimately scrapped.

“We are making clear that we are absolutely rejecting this completely futile, short-term and facile way of doing politics,” he said. “This is not a serious way to make long-term decisions that require vast amounts of investments, where lots of jobs are at risk.”

Conservative MP Chris Skidmore, the former chairman of the UK government’s net zero review, said diluting green policies would “cost the UK jobs, inward investment, and future economic growth that could have been ours by committing to the industries of the future”.

“Rishi Sunak still has time to think again and not make the greatest mistake of his premiership, condemning the UK to missing out on what can be the opportunity of the decade to deliver growth, jobs and future prosperity,” he said.

Conservative peer Lord Zac Goldsmith, who resigned as a minister earlier this year with a scathing attack on Mr Sunak’s “apathy” over climate change, said the prime minister was “dismantling” the UK’s credibility on environmental issues.

“His short stint as PM will be remembered as the moment the UK turned its back on the world and on future generations. A moment of shame,” he said.

Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas called any rollback on net zero “economically illiterate, historically inaccurate and environmentally bone-headed”.

But Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, who chairs the net zero scrutiny group, said he was “pleased to see some pragmatism” from Mr Sunak.

Moving back dates for net zero targets “will take pie in the sky ‘greenwash’ measures out of clearly unachievable deadlines”.

Former Conservative minister David Jones said modifying green policies was “inevitable and sensible”, adding that pressing on with the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars would “seriously damage the British motor industry”.

On Thursday, the King will be on a State Visit to France, where he will host what is known as a Climate Mobilisation Forum.

The event convenes specialists in climate finance, and aims to help developing economies make adjustments to cut emissions.

The King will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

Source : BBC

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The UK will water down policies aimed at achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and instead pursue a “pragmatic” approach to hitting the target, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said.

“We can adopt a more pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach to meeting net zero,” Sunak told a news conference on Wednesday, saying a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars would be pushed back from 2030 to 2035.

That would bring it in line with countries such as France and Germany, he said.

The prime minister also announced an easing of energy efficiency targets for rental properties and backtracked on plans to make homeowners replace gas boilers with heat pumps.

The move comes amid growing concern over the potential financial cost of the government’s net zero pledge.

A general election is expected next year and Sunak’s Conservative Party is trailing in the polls behind the Labour opposition amid a cost-of-living crisis that has seen food and housing costs spiral.

The narrow win by a Conservative candidate in a west London by-election in July – largely put down to a campaign against the expansion of a vehicle pollution toll zone by London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, of the Labour Party – triggered calls within the party to rethink climate commitments.

‘I believe in net zero’

Stressing that “no one can doubt” the reality of climate change, Sunak said he was a firm believer both in net zero and the UK’s ability to achieve it.

But he added that “too often motivated by short-term thinking, politicians have taken the easy way out, telling people the bits they want to hear, and not necessarily always the bits they need to hear.

“We haven’t had an honest conversation about these issues in a long time. It’s not enough to just announce these targets – great headlines in the short term – to will this thing to happen. That’s not right,” he said.

The UK had leeway to ease targets as it had achieved “the fastest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the G7”, he argued.

But the rethink sparked anger among opposition lawmakers, environmental campaigners, the car industry and some Conservative MPs, setting up a possible rift in Sunak’s party.

In July, Sunak approved hundreds of new oil and gas licences in the North Sea off Britain’s east coast, angering environmentalists.

Former prime minister and net zero proponent Boris Johnson warned that “we cannot afford to falter now or in any way lose our ambition for this country”, while COP26 president and Conservative lawmaker Alok Sharma added that “for any party to resile from this agenda will not help economically or electorally.”

Reports suggested that some MPs may even be preparing letters of no confidence in protest.

‘Complete farce’

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas called the move “economically illiterate, historically inaccurate and environmentally bone-headed” while Ed Miliband, Labour’s spokesman for energy, said it was a “complete farce from a Tory government that literally does not know what they are doing day to day”.

Lady Parminter, chair of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, also criticised Sunak’s move, saying she was “dismayed” by the announcement and will be outlining concerns and seeking clarification.

Criticism also came from industry, with Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, saying the UK should be a “leader in zero-emission mobility” but “clear, consistent” messaging is required from the government for consumers to want to switch to electric vehicles.

“Confusion and uncertainty will only hold them back,” Hawes added.

Green campaigners were angered, too.

Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said that move “will only hasten our waning influence on the world stage”.

Source : Al Jazeera

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Trailing Labour by about 20 points in national polls, the Tory triumph in Boris Johnson’s old Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat was widely attributed to a backlash against a new daily charge aimed at highly polluting cars.

Sunak’s trip to Britain’s oil capital, partly to announce plans for hundreds more North Sea drilling licences in the years to come, was the latest in a series of interventions that have enraged environmentalists.

His calculation is that by portraying himself as being “on the side” of motorists and taking a “pragmatic and proportionate” approach to climate change, he is aligning himself with the views of middle Britain.

Sunak’s contention is that the UK can reach its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 while still drilling for oil and without unfairly hitting struggling families.

The flip side of his calculation is that he hopes to present his opponents as unreasonable or, in the words of cabinet minister Michael Gove, suggest they have turned net zero into a “religious crusade”.

Will Sunak’s shift work politically? Polling suggests that — unlike the US — there is broad cross-party support in Britain for moving to a net zero economy by the middle of the century.

However, polls also suggest that support drops when the public is asked whether carbon-cutting policies should be pursued if they result in extra costs for ordinary families. Tory voters are particularly resistant to the idea.

Although Sunak’s press secretary insisted the prime minister had not changed his policies since the Uxbridge win, his tone has shifted in the last week, as Tory MPs clamour for a dilution of government green policies.

Sunak claimed the London Labour mayor Sadiq Khan had handed Uxbridge to the Tories with his plan to extend the £12.50-a-day ultra-low emission zone to outer boroughs, hitting owners of highly polluting cars.

Then, on Sunday, Sunak vowed to review “anti-car policies”, notably “low-traffic neighbourhoods” — areas that have been closed to through traffic and which have been blamed by some for creating local congestion or blocking access for emergency vehicles.

To ram home the “pro-motorist message” Sunak — whose preferred prime ministerial mode of transport is the helicopter — posed for a picture in ex-premier Margaret Thatcher’s iconic official car, an old Rover.

All the while Sunak, conscious of polling suggesting growing public concern about climate change, has been careful to resist pressure from MPs in his own party to change its key carbon-reducing targets.

The prime minister repeated again on Monday that he would stick to the ban on sales of new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 despite 40 Tory peers and MPs calling for a delay. The 2050 net zero target also remains in place.

Sunak’s confirmation of future North Sea oil drilling licences was not a break with existing policy — he has long argued that domestic supplies should be exploited during a carbon transition — but it still generated fury.

The prime minister appeared to relish the fight, happy to be talking about something other than the poor state of the economy and public services, the two issues that traditionally dominate the thoughts of voters.

In a combative interview with BBC Scotland, Sunak defended his use of a private jet for his visit, saying that people who criticised him for flying wanted — by implication — to “stop people going on holiday”.

Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow climate change secretary, claims Sunak is undermining the bipartisan approach to cutting carbon, which ministers often claim makes Britain an attractive place for green investment.

Sunak claims that Labour’s opposition to new drilling is because it had received about £1.5mn from Dale Vince, a businessman who has also given money to the pressure group Just Stop Oil.

Chris Skidmore, the former Tory energy minister who conducted a net zero review for the government, said the plan for additional drilling was “the wrong decision at precisely the wrong time, when the rest of the world is experiencing record heatwaves”.

But Sunak continues to court two audiences at the same time. His promise of more oil and gas drilling was coupled with an announcement of two new projects to capture carbon dioxide and store it under the North Sea, which critics say is an unproven technology.

For now, Sunak’s approach is more about a shift in tone than an abandonment of the government’s climate goals. Even the prime minister’s promised review of “low-traffic neighbourhoods” was described by his spokeswoman on Monday as no more than a “fact-finding mission”.

Conservative election strategists have always feared that by taking more strident positions on issues such as the environment, migration and transgender rights, they risk driving away moderate Tory voters. For now, many Conservative MPs believe Sunak is striking the right balance.

“This is all rhetorical,” said one. “There aren’t going to be any actual changes to the law. The government is just trying to make clear we’re on the side of the majority, not the minority.”

Greg Clark, Tory chair of the Commons science committee, said: “Developing carbon capture is clearly a green policy and, until we no longer need oil and gas for refining, using our own supplies rather than shipping them in from overseas seems obviously sensible.”

One government official said of Sunak: “I think he’s very smart to position himself as ‘pro-motorist’. In Westminster it’s easy to forget how much people outside of urban centres rely on their car to get to work or transport their family around.”

Source: The Financial

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The group wants to focus on migration, law and order and ‘woke’ issues. Will No.10 listen?

LONDON — Watch out Rishi Sunak, there’s a new right-wing Tory pressure group in town.

The New Conservatives — a group of 25 MPs from the 2017 and 2019 parliamentary intakes — launched Monday with a headline-grabbing call for the Tory prime minister to do more to cut migration.

They’re urging Sunak — already under pressure over the issue — to focus on meeting his predecessor-but-one Boris Johnson’s 2019 manifesto pledge to get net numbers to below 226,000. So who are the New Conservatives? And what exactly do they want?

The new group is run by Danny Kruger, a former aide to Johnson, and Miriam Cates, a backer of Home Secretary Suella Braverman when she ran for the Tory leadership last year.

Other members of the group include backbenchers Tom Hunt, Jonathan Gullis, Gareth Bacon, Duncan Kaker, Paul Bristow, Brendan Clarke-Smith, James Daly, Anna Firth, Nick Fletcher, Chris Green, Eddie Hughes, Mark Jenkinson, Andrew Lewer, Marco Longhi, Robin Millar, and Lia Nici.

Lee Anderson, the pugnacious former Labour aide turned Tory deputy chairman, was conspicuously absent from the event — and all literature — despite being part of the group and billed to speak right up until late last night. Stand-in Kruger insisted “he’s unwell in bed” but also “doesn’t officially endorse policy proposals” due to his party role.

Eagle-eyed readers will note that this list does not tot up to the advertised 25.

When asked about this at the press conference, Hunt said there were a “wide group of MPs who are supportive of our work,” but that those listed are the ones specifically endorsing the migration policies presented today.

So what do they want?

Cates kicked off the group’s launch event in Westminster by making it pretty clear that the group’s immediate focus is on migration — though there’s clearly plenty more to come.

Her message to Sunak? “The choice is this: cut immigration, keep our promise to voters, and restore democratic, cultural and economic security, or kick the can down the road, lose the next election, and resign ourselves to a low growth, low-wage, labor-intensive service economy with a population forecast to rise by another 20 million in the next 25 years.”

The New Conservatives outlined a 12-point-plan Monday that they claim will do just that. But some of its key recommendations are likely to prove contentious.

Perhaps the most headline-grabbing point is a call to scrap Health and Care Visas, launched to fill gaps in the health and social care sector with overseas workers. The group says this will cut the number of new visas issued by 117,000 and reduce long-term international migration by 82,000.

But big questions remain over exactly how the resultant gaps in the health and social care workforce would be filled with British recruits. UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said the government has “done nothing to solve the growing crisis in care. Now a group of its MPs want ministers to make things a whole lot worse.”

Beyond that pledge, the New Conservatives also want to reserve university study visas for only the “brightest” international students; stop overseas graduates staying for up to two years in the U.K. without a job; and place stricter limits on social housing being allocated to migrants.

They also want to “rapidly implement” the government’s Illegal Migration Bill, which — given its mauling in the House of Lords Monday — may be a tough ask.

Are they rivals to Rishi?

The group sternly rejects the notion that they’re here to cause trouble for the prime minister, with Daly telling assembled journalists Monday that he’s “depressed” by questions of rivalry.

Just to hammer the point home, Daly added that “every single person here today supports the prime minister.”

But they’re undoubtedly a thorn in Sunak’s side as the next election looms.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson insisted Monday that the government’s plans on migration don’t need toughening up. “We have to strike the right balance between tackling net migration and taking the people we need,” the spokesperson said, adding “we believe they strike the right balance currently. We keep our migration policies under review.”

Is this just about migration?

So far — but expect to hear plenty more from the group in the coming months.

Speaking to POLITICO, Hunt said he sees the group focusing on three main issues: migration; law and order; and what they see as the threat to Britain from “woke” ideas.

Hunt stressed that he wants the outfit to be “dipping their toes” into anti-woke issues “generally as a push-back, rather than waking up every morning and thinking ‘right, what’s our next big culture war wedge issue?’” So expect some anti-woke seasoning sprinkled on the New Conservatives’ main course.

Hunt says he’s animated by what he sees as “wokeness” in schools, and a preponderance of “self-loathing in this country.”

“I get concerned when I see the odd poll that says the majority of 18-25-year-olds see Churchill as a villain rather than a hero,” he said. That doesn’t mean the group will call for Britain to start “glossing over the past and saying we’ve always got it right,” he added — but recognizing that “in a struggle of Russia and China, we’re a damn sight better than them.”

So will this agenda help the Tories win in 2024 — or recover afterwards?

Polls suggest the Tories are on course to lose the next election, and badly. The New Conservatives want their ideas featured in the 2024 election manifesto, and believe they have the agenda to connect with working-class voters in the so-called Red Wall seats Johnson snatched from Labour in 2019 and which now look vulnerable.

Cates told the audience gathered in Westminster Monday that: “We want to win, of course we do, but it’s more than that. It’s because we believe that we still have, despite everything, the best chance of delivering for the British people.” She said of the party’s 2019 platform: “The demand for that offer is still there. We want to fulfill it.”

Not all Tories are convinced. Conservative commentator John Oxley argued that the New Conservatives’ impact may be short-lived.

It is, he said, “dominated by the sort of 2019, Red Wall MPs who are very likely to lose their seats next time around. They may be trying to sway the manifesto in a way that helps them, or mark themselves out as immigration hardliners to try and buck the national trend, but it seems unlikely to have much sway with Rishi Sunak.”

And he warned: “Equally, it seems unlikely this group will have much impact on the future of the Conservative Party, as so many of them will be out of parliament when that discussion begins after the election.”

Source: Politico

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