The Conservatives have traded conservation for a scorched earth policy

This is Britain at the end of the hottest summer on record.

So, it beggars belief that the Conservatives have chosen this time - or would choose any - to try to scrap the world’s first legally binding framework to cut carbon emissions. Legislation born in Britain and adopted by over 60 countries around the world including Germany, France, Mexico and countless others.

Today in Parliament, the Aberdeenshire MP, Andrew Bowie, was to make a call for MPs to vote to abolish not only the Climate Change Act, but also the Climate Change Committee.

Make no mistake, this was a naked attempt at a wholesale dismantling of the architecture needed to reduce emissions in an attempt to appease the fossil fuel industry.

Except that this act of madness proved to be a step too far for even the Conservative Party when news broke last night that the plan was to be scrapped.

On the face of it, the climbdown may have come because the rule bill specifically sets out to support moves by backbench MPs and the proposer has suddenly found himself appointed as the new Shadow Energy Secretary.

Whether this is through Parliamentary protocol or a sudden outbreak of common sense we are yet to know, but it is beyond time the party stepped back from the brink.

Conservatives used to understand conserving the things we hold dear, not least our green and pleasant land. Now they have abandoned that for a scorched earth policy.

Ignoring the reality of climate change is not only not conservative, today it is reality-denying vandalism that further endangers communities on the front line across the UK, like Stourbridge, which suffered devastating blazes in August, Cardinham, Cornwall which faced more than 50 consecutive days of rain this winter, and Hemsby, where houses are teetering on the brink after coastal erosion.

And the science is clear, climate change is the new normal. It will only speed up if we fail to act. Scientists at the universities of Reading and Newcastle recently found that if the conditions of the famous heatwave of 1976 were recreated in today’s atmosphere, temperatures would peak 3-4 degrees higher, with a higher concentration of greenhouse gases in the world cranking up the thermostat.

Liberal Democrats know this problem well. Their constituents in the south-east and south-west were among the first to face hosepipe bans and drought conditions. Conservatives might have known this, if not for the last election, when they lost scores of MPs across their once-blue wall. More in Common polling suggests their abandonment of advocating for these issues helped lead to that historic loss.

The Climate Change Act is working. We have come a long way. Just since its enactment, we have cut our emissions by almost 42%. In every year the CCA has been the law of the land, the total emissions savings we have made, compared to 1990 when records began, add up to a tonnage of CO2 equivalent to the weight of the entire global population 12 times over. Meanwhile, countries accounting for almost 80% of the world’s people have a similar target.

Were we to go along with this scorched-earth policy and ditch the promise we made, it would signal to the world that we have abandoned our ability to regulate our environment.

It is just over seven years since the House of Commons passed the UK’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050. Shepherded by the former MP for Maidenhead, now represented by a Liberal Democrat, I must add, the then-Conservative Prime Minister made the UK the first major economy to legislate for a net-zero ambition. I wrote to the leader of the opposition - Kemi Badenoch - when she first announced her row back that the Act was “one of the great cross-party achievements of the last two decades”.

Our climate goals not only light the way to a green future, they are a beacon of hope for business and civil society. They form part of the bedrock of policy that business has counted on to make countless investment decisions. The investment opportunity presented by the energy transition totals £455bn, while the wider green economy employs one million Brits.

Chopping and changing policies this systemic, shirking our responsibilities, shreds business confidence and destabilises our future. What we need is political leaders in Westminster to listen to the country - concern amongst voters about climate change is again rising. They want politicians to act, not be silent. Or deny what we can all see outside our windows: climate breakdown happening right in front of us.

Note: A private members’ bill is expected to be presented by Bradley Thomas MP as a ‘presentation bill’ which prevents either speeches or debate.

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Pippa Heylings MP is the Lib Dem’s climate and energy spokesperson.

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