OPINION - The Tories are sitting on a sewage timebomb that could blow next month

Does the Conservative Party care about the environment? All main parties broadly define themselves as pro-planet these days, so the description is perhaps hard to qualify. Within the party — as in any e-coli strewn beach — there are pockets of resistance, such as the “Net Zero Scrutiny Group”, a group of 20 MPs who are now blaming green policies for the cost-of-living crisis. On the whole, though, the Tories are happy to present themselves as essentially green. This dates perhaps to 2006, when David Cameron replaced the Conservative branding, a lit torch, with an oak tree. There was Boris Johnson’s rewilding project (now watered down). There is the Net Zero pledge.