Badenoch accused of 'catastrophic mistake'

FORMER Conservative prime minister Theresa May has criticised Kemi Badenoch's plan to scrap world-leading climate legislation as a "catastrophic mistake".

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Former Prime Minister Theresa May

Tory leader Ms Badenoch announced plans to repeal the Climate Change Act, which was brought in by the last Labour government in 2008 and committed the UK to cut climate emissions by 80% by 2050, with five-yearly carbon budgets to keep the country on track towards the goal.

Baroness May of Maidenhead, as she is now known as a peer, increased the ambition of the Act while in office to cutting greenhouse gases to zero overall, known as “net zero”, by 2050.

Lady May said: “I am deeply disappointed by this retrograde step which upends 17 years of consensus between our main political parties and the scientific community.