Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has said that the target of net-zero by 2050 is "impossible", directly contradicting the position of previous leader Theresa May who made the target legally binding.

Badenoch stated that reaching the target would mean “a serious drop in our living standards” or “bankrupting us" during a speech on our national security.

The previous Conservative government dropped emissions between 2010 and 2024 by almost 30 per cent taking the overall emissions to half those of 1990 despite growing the economy by 79 per cent.

However, Badenoch had already hinted at a wider discussion on carbon reduction framed in terms of greater international security and shifting alliances, previously saying: “We cannot put virtue signalling ahead of a realistic assessment of our national interest. That means prioritising our energy security.”

In the latest speech she returned to the topic, stating: “Let’s start by telling the truth on energy and net-zero.” She added: “It’s fantasy politics. Built on nothing. Promising the earth. And costing it too.”

Fully accepting of climate change as a reality and acknowledging that it was a noble aim to reduce the impact on the planet of energy production, that is “our duty to safeguard the delicate balance of nature for future generations”, she questioned whether current policies were really achieving this aim, whilst still increasing costs of energy.

Badenoch questions three areas of the current targets: first that there has never been a comprehensive detailed plan and that the current published plans are “completely muddled”. She noted that the UK has made the greatest progress on carbon emissions in the developed world and is responsible for less than one per cent of global emissions, so that even if the UK were to hit absolute zero, it would have little impact if other countries do not follow. “And they are not” she said.

Second that the rate of adoption or renewable technologies is far too slow to meet the targets.

The third area is the dependency upon foreign – and particularly Chinese – technology. As reported in the speech what she called “countries who don’t share our values”.

Badenoch is clearly attempting to reset the Conservative Party as the one party that will level with the public. Her speech also covered other areas of domestic and international politics, and attacks on Reform and the Liberal Democrats. But it was the perceived weakness of the current Government that held the greatest criticism, and Badenoch surely felt the net-zero policies, and Ed Miliband, as the most vulnerable areas of the administration to goad.

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