Support for a net zero UK by 2050 is expressed among all ages and types of political voter, according to the pollsters. Nevertheless, Rishi Sunak's government scented in Uxbridge a possible "wedge" issue that could put Tories on the side of swing voters.
Almost immediately, senior cabinet ministers began to flirt with the idea of watering down some climate policies that the public might regard as too costly to them personally in the short term.
In the firing line? The ban on petrol and diesel cars by 2030, phasing out gas boilers by 2035, energy efficiency targets for landlords and low traffic measures.
Tory insiders say Sunak is committed to renewables and decarbonising the energy sector but that he appears to be more sceptical of the car and boiler targets brought in by Boris Johnson, which they say the former prime minister brought forward without much thought for the consequences or feasibility.
Alongside this, there is the temptation among Conservatives to cast Labour as going too far in support of green measures that will cost voters money, tapping into fears about the party's stewardship of the economy which Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have worked relentlessly to dispel.
Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, has led the charge, wrongly characterising Labour as supporting a "criminal eco mob" of climate protesters, and recording a video slamming the party's policy of no more oil and gas drilling in the North Sea.
"It is playing with fire; we undermine the political consensus on net zero at our peril," says one Conservative MP who strongly supports tackling the climate emergency but was reluctant to stick his head above the parapet to say so publicly. "We also need to remember that voters are heavily in favour of our net zero targets."
Esta historia es de la edición July 29, 2023 de The Guardian.
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