We now 'need a new process' that scales global solutions

Tony Blair has warned Western policies to tackle global climate change are "failing", demanding a radical reset to win over hearts and minds on the issue.

- David Maddox

The major intervention by the former prime minister torpedoes current net zero policies and calls for the COP process to be torn down and replaced. It is a shot across the bows of the current Labour government and energy secretary Ed Miliband’s plans to push headlong towards renewables.

Writing the foreword for his own think tank's new paper, The Climate Paradox: Why We Need to Reset Action on Climate Change, Sir Tony warned that there is a widening credibility gap with voters who are “being asked to make financial sacrifices and changes in lifestyle when they know that their impact on global emissions is minimal.”

The intervention could not come at a more sensitive time for Sir Keir Starmer’s government which is facing local elections in 48 hours, a first serious electoral test since the general election.