Rishi Sunak is getting praise from all the wrong people on climate change

Rishi Sunak’s decision to roll back a swathe of significant climate change commitments by the British government has elicited praise from all the wrong people – including one Donald J. Trump.

The former US President congratulated the Prime Minister for having “very substantially rolled back the ridiculous 'Climate Mandates'” and praised him for “recognising this SCAM before it was too late”.

“I always knew Sunak was smart, that he wasn’t going to destroy and bankrupt his nation for fake climate alarmists that don’t have a clue.”

Sunak last week announced that he would scrap a number of the UK’s net zero targets. He has pushed back a ban on new diesel and petrol vehicles from 2030 to 2035 and has weakened plans to phase out the installation of gas boilers by 2035.

He has drawn heavy criticism from climate scientists and environmental experts, but also from his own former ministers and Conservative party donors.

Billionaire John Caudwell, the biggest donor to the Tory party before the 2019 election, yesterday told the Sunday Times he would not back Sunak after the “madness” of his green policy rollback.

“If Rishi sticks to this, would I donate to the Conservative party? Absolutely not. No chance whatsoever with the decisions they are making at the moment.

“Would I switch to Labour? The answer to that is very simple: I will support any party that I believe will do the right thing for Britain going forward.”

Meanwhile, Lord Zach Goldsmith, a former Tory minister, told the Observer: “This is a clear attempt to turn the environment into a wedge issue, as it is in the US… Sacrificing the environment to culture wars is cynical, devastating and wildly irresponsible.”

Even car manufacturer Ford slammed the U-turn. Ford’s UK boss Lisa Brankin said: “Our business needs three things from the U.K. government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.”

And Chris Norbury, the chief executive of energy supplier E.ON, said: “We risk condemning people to many more years of living in cold and draughty homes that are expensive to heat, in cities clogged with dirty air from fossil fuels, missing out on the regeneration this ambition brings.”

Trump was among a group of far-right voices who showered Sunak with praise for the u-turn.

He was joined by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary who has an estimated net worth of more than £100m. He described net zero as “a scheme of the élite.”

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