I know that the last few years have been incredibly challenging for families across the country. Our economy is still dealing with the financial impact of the Covid pandemic and the disruptions to global supply chains caused by Putin’s barbaric war in Ukraine, which have pushed up the cost of living both here and abroad.
Despite these factors, the outlook remains strong with inflation continuing to fall and the UK economy repeatedly outperforming expectations. But it is also right that we should be taking a pragmatic approach to our policy commitments which will require significant Government investment and behavioural changes.
That is why I strongly support the Prime Minister’s recent announcement on our new strategy to achieve Net Zero by 2050, which will ease the financial burden on families and businesses in places like Warrington while continuing to fulfil our country’s responsibility to tackle climate change.
Under the Government’s revised plan, a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be moved back by five years, so all sales of new cars from 2035 will be zero emissions. This will enable families to wait to take advantage of falling prices over the coming decade if they wish to, as well as support car manufactures with a smoother transition to electric vehicles, all while allowing us to build the right infrastructure to support these new technologies once they become widespread.
We are delaying the ban on installing oil and LPG boilers, and new coal heating, for off-gas-grid homes to 2035, instead of phasing them out from 2026. Many of these homes are not suitable for heat pumps, so this ensures homeowners are not having to spend around £10,000-£15,000 on upgrading their homes in just three years’ time.
We are also setting an exemption to the phase out of fossil fuel boilers, including gas, in 2035, so that households who will most struggle to make the switch to heat pumps or other low-carbon alternatives will not have to do so. This is expected to cover about a fifth of homes, including off-gas-grid homes – those that will need expensive retrofitting or a very large electricity connection.
Landlords and homeowners will continue to be encouraged to upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties where they can, and we are supporting households who want to replace their gas boilers with a low-carbon alternative like a heat pump by raising the Boiler Upgrade Grant by 50 percent to £7,500.
The transition to Net Zero needs to be rational, that is why I am also pleased to see the Prime Minister rule out worrying proposals that would interfere in the way people live their lives such as requiring people to share cars, eat less meat and dairy, be taxed to discourage their flying, or have seven bins to hit recycling targets.
This Government is investing in the future, that means thousands of new highly skilled, well-paid jobs in industries like hydrogen, nuclear and carbon capture and storage – all industries benefitting Warrington.
Opposition parties would have you believe that these sensible changes to our Net Zero strategy mean we are abandoning our international commitments, but that could not be further from the truth. Since 1990 the UK has reduced our carbon emissions by 50 percent, more than any other G7 country. We are a world leader in combatting climate change and it is because we have already over-delivered on our green policies that we have the scope to make the transition to Net Zero easier for ourselves.
