Net zero is blamed for steep energy bill rises as councillor declines to back 'climate change science'

Lancashire residents are being made "poorer" by "unachievable" attempts to hit net zero targets by 2050, according to the new environment cabinet member at Lancashire County Council.

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Reform UK's Joshua Roberts criticised the government's legally binding carbon reduction commitments - and also left unanswered a direct question about whether he even accepted "the science" behind climate change.

He was speaking at a meeting of the full council in response to a request from Labour group leader Mark Clifford for an update on what the local authority was doing to "support" the nationwide 2050 goal.

Having listed a series of energy reduction and sustainable transport projects, County Coun Roberts seized the opportunity to take aim at net zero - the aim to ensure, by the middle of the century, that the total volume of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has stopped growing, in order to combat climate change.