Labour defends net-zero policies after Blair criticism

The government has defended its net-zero policies after Sir Tony Blair said limiting fossil fuels was "doomed to fail" and a new approach was needed.

The ex-Labour prime minister argued the climate change debate had become "irrational" and people in rich countries no longer wanted to make financial sacrifices "when they know that their impact on global emissions is minimal".

His comments have been seized on by opposition parties as an attack on Sir Keir Starmer's plan to achieve net zero carbon emissions in the UK by 2050.

Asked about the comments at Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir said: "If you look at the detail of what Tony Blair said he's absolutely aligned with what we're doing here."

Labour ministers have insisted the drive to net zero will not involve any financial sacrifices and have minimal impact on people's lives.

Minutes before PMQs, the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) issued a statement saying they "support the government's 2050 net zero targets" and that the UK government's approach is "the right one".

Questioned whether the institute had been asked by the government to issue a clarification to help defuse a growing political row, the prime minister's spokesman said: "I won't get into private conversations."

Sir Keir's spokesman also stressed that the PM had confidence in Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, adding that he was "doing a great job".

But he said the PM did not agree with Sir Tony that there was too much "hysteria" in the climate change debate.

He told reporters: "I don't think so, I mean I think we're taking a very practical and pragmatic approach to this here in the UK."

He added: "Our approach to net zero is clear. It is families up and down this country that will pay the price for the UK's dependence on fossil fuel markets."

Nicholas Stern - who wrote an influential report on the economics of climate change, external for Tony Blair when he was in government in 2006 - described the report from the Tony Blair Institute, external as "muddled and misleading".

He said there was "far more progress being made around the world to decarbonise the global economy than it suggests" and that it did not take account of the UK's leadership in the field.

"If the UK wobbles on its route to net zero, other countries may become less committed. The UK matters," said Prof Stern, who chairs the Grantham Research institute on climate change at the London School of Economics.

The report argues that the expected global rise in fossil fuel use and the doubling of airline travel over the next 20 years undermines current 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," Sir Tony wrote in the foreward to the report.

The report says existing carbon targets should be kept in place to give certainty to business but a rethink of how they are achieved was urgently needed.

It says the focus should instead be on emerging technologies such as carbon capture and storage and nuclear fusion - and new international effort to persuade the world's biggest economies, such as China and India, to cut their emissions.

To help achieve the 2050 target, Labour and the previous Conservative government made a series of pledges including "clean" electricity, ending the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030 - and installing 600,000 electric heat pumps a year by 2028.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch recently ditched her party's support for net zero by 2050.

Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said there was "consensus across the board" on the need to protect the environment, but that "we have to take the public with us".

And she said Sir Tony had sent a "clear message" to the government that it needs to "rethink" its approach to net zero.

In a sign of the acrimony swilling around this debate within Labour, one government source suggested Sir Tony's comments may have been affected by the Tony Blair Institute having received funding from oil rich Saudi Arabia.

The Labour Party has had a complicated relationship with Sir Tony and his legacy since he left Downing Street in 2007.

Ed Miliband's election as leader in 2010 over his brother, David, was seen in part as a repudiation of Blairism, as was Jeremy Corbyn's leadership to a much greater extent.

But since Sir Keir Starmer became leader in 2020 he has often embraced the most electorally-successful leader in Labour's history. He has also hired some of the leading figures from Sir Tony's Downing Street.

Jonathan Powell, Downing Street chief of staff under Sir Tony, is now Sir Keir's national security adviser, and Liz Lloyd, a former deputy chief of staff, is now back as director of policy delivery.

Lord Mandelson, one of Sir Tony's closest political friends and a former cabinet minister, is now the UK ambassador to Washington.

It comes as a highly critical report by the independent Climate Change Committee says Labour has made very little progress in preparing the UK for the growing threats posed by rising temperatures since coming to power.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.