NET Zero sceptics tonight seized upon a damning government leak that lays bare the eye-watering cost of going green – saying it “proves what we all knew all along”.
The Sun’s revelation of a secret Whitehall impact assessment was branded a smoking gun by MPs and left Downing Street on the ropes.
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Conservatives demanded Labour “comes clean” after we disclosed internal fears that the eco drive could crash the economy and hit the poorest hardest.
Shadow Minister Greg Smith told our Harry Cole on Talk drivetime: “The cost of Net Zero is actually unbearable, particularly for the poorest in our society, and it’s going to cause an economic downturn.
“Yet at every turn, we hear people like Ed Miliband saying it’s essential for growth.
“The facts and the words in black and white on the document you’ve been leaked and published in The Sun this morning proves what we all knew all along.”
Tory business spokesman Andrew Griffith added: “Is taking a wrecking ball to the UK economy a price worth paying. Labour needs to come clean.”
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice let rip in the Commons that the government had “suppressed the report” and demanded ministers release it.
Cabinet Minister Lucy Powell was left red-faced after accidentally saying Net Zero would help “lower jobs”.
The 2023 Business Department document warns that reaching the climate goal by 2050 “could act as a sudden shock, resulting in a sudden drop in value and presenting a risk to investors and shareholders”.
No10 last night seemed rattled by the leak and tried to downplay it as a “summary of external analysis”, despite it being drawn up by civil servants and marked “official sensitive”.
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said: “The ambition to reach a clean power economy that delivers jobs and growth across the country will improve living standards, it will deliver lower energy bills, it will support households and the energies of the future.”
Britain has a legally-binding commitment to reach Net Zero emissions by 2050 after Theresa May passed a law in her dying days as PM.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has this week tore up this ambition as a Conservative promise, saying it was now clearly unaffordable.
