Rishi Sunak accused of 'pouring fuel on the global fire' as Tory PM set to weaken green pledges

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Rishi Sunak has been accused of "pouring more fuel on the global fire" as the struggling Prime Minister plans to water down some of his key environmental policies.

The Tory leader, whose party faces a hammering at the next general election, is considering weakening plans to phase out gas boilers from 2035 and delaying the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years.The SNP called the move "an abdication of responsibility" to future generations, while the Scottish Greens said it shows he "couldn't care less" about the environment.

It comes as First Minister Humza Yousaf is meeting world leaders at New York climate week. Sunak said he is watering down the net zero pledges to make sure they are “proportionate”.He confirmed he will make a speech this week to “set out an important long-term decision”, following the BBC reporting that he would row back on green targets.Sunak also said that the UK Government remains committed to the target of net zero emissions by 2050, but will achieve it “in a better, more proportionate way”.He said politicians “of all stripes have not been honest about costs and trade-offs” and accused previous Tory governments of taking “the easy way out, saying we can have it all”.SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown said: “Although it’s not surprising that Rishi Sunak seems set to ditch key pledges to tackle the climate emergency, the decision would be an abdication of responsibility to future generations when the necessity of climate leadership could not be more stark.“Neighbouring nations to Scotland are fairer, wealthier and greener than the UK - and are playing their part in tackling the climate crisis."Scottish Greens environment spokesperson Mark Ruskell said: “This would be an extremely