Ministers have been dishonest about massive bill for net zero, warns Philip Hammond
MINISTERS have been dishonest about the mammoth bill for net zero, Philip Hammond has warned.
The ex-Chancellor, who was in No11 when Theresa May’s 2050 carbon commitment was enshrined, said Rishi Sunak had to bring the public with him when going green.
He said that the target would mean putting less cash directly into schools, hospitals, social services and roads.
Lord Hammond wrote in The Times: “In a democracy, politicians … must take public opinion with them on their crusades.
“If they do not, they risk a revolt when the real costs become apparent.
“The huge investment required to decarbonise has to come from somewhere.
“A pound spent on decarbonisation cannot be spent on something else.
“Either investment has to be redirected from other priorities or consumption has to be reduced to fund additional investment.”
He said politicians were “shy of spelling out the costs”.
Lord Hammond added that the former PM, Lady May “did not want to acknowledge that there was any cost to decarbonisation at all.”
Asked if he thought Rishi Sunak would take a different approach, he replied: “No. Do I think Keir Starmer is likely to take a different approach? No.
“I don’t think this is a Tory disease, I think it’s a cross-party disease, it’s a political class disease.”