Boris net zero blast takes wind out of Sunak's sails

Tories split as Johnson allies demand election now but red-wall MPs say PM on side of people

- Sam Lister

TORY divisions over green initiatives erupted yesterday as Boris Johnson blasted the Prime Minister's plan to rip up his targets.

Allies of the former PM demanded Rishi Sunak call a general election after he ditched Mr Johnson's ambitious net zero policies.

But red-wall Conservatives said Mr Sunak's announcement showed the party was "on the side of working people".

And one minister dubbed the PM's opponents a "tiny minority of ideologues" with no real plan to deliver the previous targets.

Mr Johnson had put swift bans on petrol cars and gas boilers at the heart of his premiership and backed offshore windfarms. Yesterday, he warned Mr Sunak that he must not "falter now" and businesses "must have certainty about our net zero commitments".

Mr Johnson said: "The green industrial revolution is already generating huge numbers of high quality jobs and helping to drive growth and level up our country.

"Business and industry such as motor manufacturing are rightly making vast investments in these new technologies. It is those investments that will produce a low-carbon future - at lower costs for British families.

"It is crucial that we give those businesses confidence that Government is still committed to net zero and can see the way ahead. We cannot afford to falter now or in any way lose our ambition for this country."

But Johnson loyalist Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg backed Mr Sunak's plans, calling the ex-PM a "net zero zealot".