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Allies of the former premier demanded Rishi Sunak call a general election after he tore up Mr Johnson\u2019s ambitious net zero policies.<\/p>\n
But red wall Conservatives said the PM\u2019s announcement shows the party is \u201con the side of working people\u201d.<\/p>\n
And one minister told the Express the band of opponents to Mr Sunak\u2019s changes were a \u201ctiny minority of ideologues with no real plan to deliver\u201d the previous targets.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson, who had put swift bans on petrol cars and boilers at the heart of his premiership, issued a statement warning Mr Sunak he must not \u201cfalter now\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said businesses \u201cmust have certainty about our net zero commitments\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe green industrial revolution is already generating huge numbers of high quality jobs and helping to drive growth and level up our country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusiness and industry \u2013 such as motor manufacturing \u2013 are rightly making vast investments in these new technologies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is those investments that will produce a low-carbon future \u2013 at lower costs for British families.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is crucial that we give those businesses confidence that government is still committed to net zero and can see the way ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot afford to falter now or in any way lose our ambition for this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE: <\/strong> Boris Johnson tells Rishi Sunak not to ‘falter’ and abandon Net Zero<\/strong><\/p>\n Zak Goldsmith, who accused Mr Sunak of being \u201cuninterested\u201d in the environment when he quit as a minister in June, reacted with fury to the announcement.<\/p>\n The Tory peer, a close friend of Mr Johnson, said he had received hundreds of messages from Conservative friends \u201ctelling me this move by the PM vindicates my decision to noisily resign\u201d.<\/p>\n Lord Goldsmith added: \u201cI didn\u2019t want vindication. I hoped it would add pressure on the government to prove me and others wrong. We need an election. Now.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the decision was an \u201ceconomically and ecologically illiterate decision\u201d and a \u201cmoment of shame\u201d for the UK.<\/p>\n Tory MP Chris Skidmore, the Government\u2019s former net zero tsar, said the Prime Minister\u2019s announcement \u201ccondemns the UK to missing out on what could be the opportunity of the decade to deliver growth, jobs and future prosperity\u201d.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cUltimately, the people who will pay the price for any delay and dithering will be householders whose bills will remain higher as a result of costly and inefficient fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n Don’t miss… <\/strong> We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n But Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who had been a Johnson loyalist, said the ex-PM was a \u201cnet zero zealot\u201d and backed Mr Sunak\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI\u2019ve never been as much of a net zero zealot as Boris is.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, he genuinely believes in a more high wire approach in this area.<\/p>\n \u201cI like to have a safety net under any high wire and I think what the Government\u2019s doing now is using the safety net. And I think it\u2019s absolutely right.<\/p>\n \u201cI could not be more supportive of what the Prime Minister is doing under these circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n Craig Mackinlay, chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of Conservative MPs, lashed out at Tory colleagues criticising the changes.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cSome Conservative colleagues may take to the airways as they see their un-costed dreams hitting the buffers of reality. But this need not be a divisive row, the Net Zero plan for 2050 is still there but this allows for it to be met in a more thoughtful way, and by technologies that may actually work. Should be cheaper too.<\/p>\n \u201cConservatives should never ban things; consumers are more than capable of making choices as to what works for them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s called the power of capitalism and the market – not a Whitehall mandarin mandating what we should do.\u201d<\/p>\n The New Conservatives group of MPs, formed of mainly red wall MPs, backed the \u201ccommon-sense approach\u201d.<\/p>\n In a letter to Mr Sunak, co-chairs Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger said: \u201cWe know that new Conservative voters will welcome this announcement as a common-sense approach to the environmental challenges that we face.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will know that our party is on the side of working people who are trying to get on, make a living, and provide for their families.<\/p>\n \u201cOur message to colleagues is to recognise the impact of this policy on those voters.\u201d<\/p>\n They said that electric vehicles are attractive to \u201cbetter off\u201d people and that \u201cmany of those who backed our party in 2019 are not in that situation\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a party that represents people from Kingswood to Keighley, we must make sure that the policy decisions we take leave the working people of this country better and not worse off,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Mr Sunak also won support from political adversary Liz Truss.<\/p>\n The former prime minister said: \u201cI welcome the delay on banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars as well as the delay on the ban on oil and gas boilers. This is particularly important for rural areas.\u201d<\/p>\n The UK has been a leader on tackling climate change by delivering real change at home.<\/p>\n It has been instrumental in transforming how countries and companies now view the importance of taking action on net zero.<\/p>\n But diluting green policies now would cost the UK jobs, inward investment and future economic growth that could have been ours by committing to the industries of the future.<\/p>\n The Prime Minister\u2019s latest announcement condemns the UK to missing out on what could be the opportunity of the decade to deliver growth, jobs and future prosperity.<\/p>\n Last year marked a watershed moment for global investment in net zero \u2014 not least from the US\u2019 Inflation Reduction Act, with its commitment of placing clean technologies at the heart of future economic strategy.<\/p>\n Now is the time for the UK to step up not step back in the race to net zero.<\/p>\n My Independent Review of Net Zero found that net zero can bring 480,000 new jobs to the UK and \u00a31 trillion of private investment if we commit long term to business and industry.<\/p>\n To delay would only cost more, and the UK would miss out on economic and investment opportunities that will go elsewhere.<\/p>\n To take the \u2018not zero\u2019 path will condemn the U.K. to also being dependent on costly gas and oil prices that has driven our record inflation rates.<\/p>\n We are now in a net zero race and the UK cannot fall behind. I warned in the report that \u201cto stand still, delay or maintain the status quo is not an option.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, the people who will pay the price for any delay and dithering will be householders whose bills will remain higher as a result of costly and inefficient fossil fuels.<\/p>\n There is a vital requirement for stable, long term direction, rather than piecemeal, short term announcements.<\/p>\n There is only a cost, not a benefit, to these delays.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/139\/590x\/secondary\/4969853.jpg?r=1695238681353\")
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Tory civil war explodes as Boris ally demands election ‘now’ in fury at Sunak[POLITICS] <\/strong><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/139\/590x\/secondary\/4969849.jpg?r=1695238681397\")
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