Labour hits back after Blair brands Government's net-zero policies ‘irrational’
30 April 2025, 06:14 | Updated: 30 April 2025, 11:55
Downing Street has hit back at former Labour PM Sir Tony Blair after he claimed the Government’s net-zero policies are “doomed to fail.”
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Blair declared Labour’s approach is simply “not working” as he said people are “turning away from the politics of the issue because they believe the proposed solutions are not founded on good policy.”
“In developed countries, voters feel they’re being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know that their impact on global emissions is minimal,” Blair wrote in the foreword for a report from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI).
Downing Street has rejected the former PM’s positions, as a spokesman told reporters: “We will reach net zero in a way that treads lightly on people’s lives, not by telling them how to live or behave.
“Clearly there’s going to be a range of views but we are of the view that this is an enormous economic opportunity and as the Prime Minister has made clear, we’re already seeing the benefit.”
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They pointed to the economic growth that could come from ditching fossil fuels.
“This is about the net-zero sector growing three times faster than the economy as a whole,” the spokesman added.
“We’re seizing these opportunities to drive growth, lower bills and boost living standards.”
Addressing Sir Tony’s criticism of plans based on quickly curtailing fossil fuels, the official said: “We’ve always said that oil and gas have a role to play in the future of energy supply.”
In his forward, Blair pointed to global trends which show fossil fuel use and airline travel expanding massively in the next 20 years, essentially reversing any progress made with climate policies.
“These are the inconvenient facts, which mean that any strategy based on either ‘phasing out’ fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail,” he wrote.
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He argued there should be more focus on emerging technologies such as nuclear fusion, sustainable aviation fuel and carbon capture.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said he agreed with “a lot” in the TBI think tank’s paper The Climate Paradox: Why We Need to Reset Action On Climate Change.
Speaking in the Commons, he said: “There’s a lot in it that I do agree with.
“It says on CCS (carbon capture and storage), we should move ahead, which this Government is.
“On AI and the role of AI, this Government should move ahead, which we are.
“On nuclear, we should move ahead, which this Government is doing.”
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson added: “As the Prime Minister said last week, the clean energy mission is in the DNA of this Government, because it is the route to energy security, lower bills and good jobs for our country.
“We have already seen £43 billion of private investment announced into clean energy since July, with businesses backing our plan to deliver good jobs for working people, including 2,000 only last week in carbon capture and storage.
“We will continue to deliver our mission to make our country secure and drive economic growth for our Plan for Change.”
The TBI has since clarified its comments, throwing its support behind Labour's environmental policies.
A statement read: "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.
"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."
Acting shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie said: “It seems even Tony Blair has come to the realisation that Keir Starmer and the Labour Party’s mad dash to net zero by 2050 is simply not feasible, or sustainable.
“As Ed Miliband’s net-zero zealotry pushes this country’s energy security even further into the arms of China, and their slave labour supply chains, and risks driving up energy bills further and further, only Kemi Badenoch and the Conservatives are telling the truth about energy policy in this country.
“Under new leadership, we have been clear that the cost of net zero by 2050 to families will be far too high, and we must urgently change course.
“Will Labour now finally be prepared to do the same, and put the national interest above their own ideological dogma?”
