Tony Blair backs down in Labour civil war over Net Zero targets: Ex-PM says he supports 2050 green target after branding climate push ‘irrational’

Tony Blair blinked first in a major row with Labour over its Net Zero push today.

The former prime minister’s consultancy insisted it ‘supported’ the Government’s 2050 green energy target, the day after he said that such policies were ‘irrational’.

In a thinly veiled swipe at under-pressure Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, he said Western political leaders fear admitting that the current approach ‘isn’t working’.

He warned that ‘any strategy based on either phasing out fossil fuels… or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail’.

However, while he received some qualified support from other ministers including Environment Secretary Steve Reed and Northern MPs, he faced accusations that he was having a ‘public tantrum’ days before the local elections. 

 His call for a more pragmatic approach to restore public trust in tackling climate change was not backed by Mr Miliband when he faced MPs last night.

Critics also pointed out the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change had previously advised oil-rich Saudi Arabia and other fossil fuel concerns.

The Institute issued a statement this morning, saying:  ‘The report is clear that we support the government’s 2050 net zero targets, to give certainty to the investors and innovators who can develop these new solutions and make them deployable. People support climate action, and it is vital that we keep the public’s support for how we do it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a thinly veiled swipe at the Energy Secretary, the former Labour prime minister said Western political leaders fear admitting that the current approach ‘isn’t working’.

But his call for a more pragmatic approach to restore public trust in tackling climate change were not backed by Mr Miliband when he faced MPs last night.

A Labour source told the Times the former PM was having a ‘public tantrum’ and pointed out his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change had previously advised oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

‘The TBI report is clear: we must prioritise technologies which capture carbon, place a bigger emphasis on protecting and enhancing nature, and develop new nuclear power, smart grids, and a new system of financing existing renewable solutions in developing economies. 

‘The UK government is already pursuing these, and their approach is the right one.

‘The report also makes a plea for a different international policy approach which focuses on the global sources of emissions and the additional solutions we are likely to need to meet climate goals. 

‘It notes that ongoing domestic decarbonisation efforts in all countries remain vital for reducing emissions and delivering a sustainable future. In the short term – and we emphasise short term – fossil fuels will continue to be a large part of the global energy supply, particularly in developing countries who need to meet the immediate and increasing energy demands of their people as their economies develop.

In a foreword to a new report by his Institute for Global Change, Sir Tony said that people are turning away from the politics of climate change because they believe the proposed solutions ‘are not founded on good policy’.

He said voters in developed countries feel ‘resentment’ at being told to make financial sacrifices when their impact on global emissions is minimal. He wrote: ‘Political leaders by and large know that the debate has become irrational.

‘But they’re terrified of saying so, for fear of being accused of being ‘climate deniers’.’

Despite having been an adviser to COP host Azerbaijan last year, he also took aim at the annual UN climate summits as ‘a forum that frankly doesn’t have the heft to drive action and impact.

‘They would like to start taking some of the hysteria out of the climate debate but are reluctant to be the first to do so.’

At the weekend, Mr Miliband warned that an anti-Net Zero agenda would risk ‘climate breakdown’ and ‘forfeit the clean energy jobs of the future’.

He also vowed to ‘double down’ on his environmental agenda and accused those against it of ‘making up nonsense and lies’.

Mr Reed this morning rejected the claim that Sir Tony was having a ‘tantrum, saying his remarks were a ‘valid and important contribution’ to the debate, while saying he did not agree with all of it.

Several Labour MPs also warned that the Net Zero charge ran the risk of handing votes to Nigel Farage’s Reform.

One told Politics Home: ‘Is it really worth sacrificing our party for the sake of cutting our emissions that are already below one per cent?’ 

But yesterday Dan McGrail, the interim CEO of the Great British Energy quango set up by Labour, criticised Mr Blair’s remarks.

According to the Times he told the Innovation Zero conference in London: ‘When you think about that, resets, stops, massive changes or 180-degree changes in strategy are deeply unhelpful.’

Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said former Sir Tony’s criticism was a ‘clear message’ that the Government needs to ‘rethink’ its approach to net zero.

She told Sky News: ‘A couple of months ago, (Conservative leader) Kemi Badenoch gave a big speech about net zero, her concerns about it, how the targets that have been laid are proving impossible to meet.

‘Lo and behold, it seems now Sir Tony Blair agrees with her, and it’s the Labour Government that perhaps has lost their way in this argument.’

She added: ‘If Tony Blair, even Tony Blair, doesn’t agree with the Labour Government, then that is quite a clear message, I would imagine, to them, that they have got to rethink this.’

Mr Reed told Times Radio he did not agree that Sir Tony’s intervention was a ‘public tantrum’.

‘He’s making a valid and important contribution to a very significant debate that we’re having.

‘I agree with much of what he said, but not absolutely every word and dot and comma of it.

‘But this Government is moving to clean energy because it’s best for Britain. It’s more energy security for Britain.’

The Government is asking people to take action because it ‘breaks our dependency on fossil fuels and the likes of Vladimir Putin’, he said.

He added: ‘Why should anybody that cares about the security of the United Kingdom want us to remain dependent on fossil fuel dictators?’

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