LONDON — Rishi Sunak batted away calls for a public vote on Britain’s plan to cut carbon emissions by 2050 — amid anti-green pressure from Nigel Farage and some of Sunak’s own Tory MPs.
“I’m committed to net zero … I think actually there’s agreement on it,” the British PM told ITV Wednesday, when asked if he would put the emissions target to a referendum.
The U.K.’s pledge to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 has been the subject of much debate lately. While still committed to the legally-binding headline target, Sunak has called for a “pragmatic and proportionate” approach to cutting emissions and made a show of expressing his support for motorists.
Some in his party want Sunak to go further, citing the impact of a switch to clean energy on voters already hit by rising prices. Those calling for a rethink were boosted by a recent narrow London by-election win for Tories who campaigned against the expansion of a clean air plan.
Former Brexit Party leader Farage on Wednesday renewed his longstanding call for the government to put the target to a referendum, telling the Telegraph newspaper the target is “unrealistic, unaffordable, and our politicians, to date, are unaccountable.”
“The only way we’ll get change is through a referendum, just like with the EU,” he argued.
Asked directly about such calls for a referendum, Sunak said Brits were already behind the target.
“I think most people are committed to getting to net zero but getting there in a proportion and pragmatic way … I think that has broad support,” he told ITV.
Opinion polls generally show that Brits back the headline target.
Supporters of the plan will be buoyed by fresh Ipsos polling Wednesday which showed a 13-point month-to-month rise in the proportion of Britons who say they are concerned about climate change and the environment.
One in four (25 percent) of those polled now cite it as an important issue for the country, the polling shows — putting it behind only the economy and inflation and level with the U.K.’s National Health Service in a ranking of voters’ top issues.
