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Rishi Sunak official portraitRishi Sunak’s watered-down net zero policies could “destroy any hopes of a cycle friendly future,” says Cycling UK
Rishi Sunak’s much ridiculed and widely condemned pledge to water down some of the government’s key net zero commitments has been criticised by Cycling UK, who say the prime minister’s ongoing attack on green initiatives and schemes could “destroy any hopes of a cycle friendly future”.
Among the climate change-focused policies and proposals the prime minister claimed he was set to axe or row back on yesterday include his already infamous promise to prevent the possibility of meat taxes, flying bans, and forcing families to have seven bins (three measures which have since been dismissed by former government colleagues as “straw men”), along with delaying the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by five years and weakening targets to phase out gas boilers.
Sunak claimed last night and in interviews today that the UK’s net zero target for 2050 remains in place even after this latest flurry of U-turns on key climate targets – though the Climate Change Committee, which already deemed the country’s progress towards net zero “worryingly slow”, has said that the prime minister’s latest bid to seize the political agenda has moved the UK “backwards”.
> Rishi Sunak is “on the side” of drivers – What happened to Britain’s “golden age for cycling”?
And now Cycling UK has called on the country’s cyclists to put pressure on Sunak to retain the range of traffic-calming and active travel schemes implemented in recent years, with the charity arguing that yesterday’s “watering down” of the UK’s net zero commitments underlines the need for the public to show their support for green, healthy policies.
The prospect of active travel initiatives being dragged onto the campaign trail ahead of the next general election became increasingly likely over the summer, in the wake of the Conservatives’ win at the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election, a narrow victory credited to the Tory opposition to Labour mayor Sadiq Khan’s plans to extend London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone.
In the wake of that symbolic by-election, Sunak announced that was “on the side” of motorists and ordered the Department for Transport (DfT) to undertake a review of LTNs and traffic-calming measures, prompting Cycling UK to urge the prime minister to avoid sowing dissension between cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists by using the schemes as a “political football” during the election campaign.
> Rishi Sunak accused of seeking to exploit division over LTNs as he orders review of schemes
Faced with yesterday’s watering down of key green policies, and fearing the prospect of a similar U-turn on active travel, Cycling UK has urged cyclists to “stand up and be counted” by writing to the prime minister outlining their support for LTNs and other measures designed to improve walking and cycling, such as the implementation of 20mph zones, to ensure that politicians “know you want action for safer cycling”.
“In response to a by-election win with a margin of just 495 votes, Rishi Sunak and his ministers have attacked their own government policy supporting low traffic neighbourhoods and 20mph zones in England,” Cycling UK say, telling road.cc that more than 5,000 people have already used their portal to share their concerns with the PM.
“These vital measures have likely helped bring cycling fatalities to a 30-year low, but we urgently need to see them rolled out more widely, alongside protected cycle lanes. A government U-turn on safe residential roads would destroy any hopes of a cycle friendly future.”
Keir Gallagher, Cycling UK campaigns manager, told road.cc today: “Yesterday’s announcement which saw the watering down of Net Zero commitments shows how important it is for the public to show their support for measures which are green, good for the public health, and affordable. Enabling cycling ticks all of these boxes.
“Politicians today seem to rely on faceless polling to make policy decisions on the hoof, but by writing to the Prime Minister this is an opportunity to show that individuals care and matter.”
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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50 comments
Double post.
It was probably worth saying twice.
Ohh yes, of course, just because I support the tories I'm a troll!
Why didn't I think before?!
If anyone is a sad, sad troll here, it's you - as proven by this very thread. I have posted a perfectly reasonable comment and just because you don't like it, apparently, I am the troll.
Now man up, and get lost.
I am sad for you, as it is you that is the lost boy/girl.
You are a troll as no one with a single braincell could believe what you say: "perfectly reasonable." Now, that's funny. Hence, saying such nonsense makes you a troll.
Sadly, I don't feel you are capable of understanding this basic point.
And er, I thought you said you would never reply to me again. Seems you never, just like a typical Tory, stick to your promises.
That was on that thread. But I don't just allow myself to be pushed around by the wokerati, hence why I lowered myself to replying to you on this occasion, even if you are baiting/trolling/fishing for a response from me because there was absolutely nothing in what I said that was anywhere close to trollish.
Unlike what you are doing.
Deluded.
The Dafties doing something meaningful to help "ordinary" people (says a lot right there) rather than themselves or their paymasters - priceless. Nice one, it's been a long week & I needed a laugh.
As for "But I don't just allow myself to be pushed around by the Wokerati..." - so who else do you allow yourself to be pushed around by?
I'm sure you're already aware but an instrumental version of The Wokerati's hit "Now man up, and get lost" is actually Joe Lycett's walk on music (he's an amateur welterweight on the West Midlands illegal pit fighting circuit - pretty successful too).
Friday! Barman, an iced Wokerati* with a slice of avocado! Frothed, not stirred.
* Collective noun - a blob of wokeratis?
It's certainly possible to be for a particular party / cheer the prevalence of motor traffic and not be trolling. (Albeit difficult for someone on here!)
Probably many posting here are wanting a reaction - not a few appear to be comfy with argy-bargy. However repeatedly defending the indefensible and appearing to relish the reaction will mean some aren't going to let any further comment lie, I guess.
"I know it when I see it". The poster of many names here for example may have honestly believed some of their productions. With their repeat returns I don't think they weren't just here to share that or discuss...
Haha great comedy stuff right there. It's the only thing tories are good for - being laughed at.
Do you mean Emily Maitlis?
probably
The best comment I heard on this was that his commitment to net zero by 2050, already a legally binding commitment, was a bit like drivers committing to stay below the speed limit.
He's desperately trying to hang onto power and believes that going for the anti-green vote is going to work for him. Also, his family does have significant investment in the oil industry, but decent people would think that surely he has enough money already.
His main "principle" behind the slow-down is to save money, but this is going to end up costing more, as demonstrated by the problems caused when gas prices went up.
It also bugs me that he has no mandate from the people for any of this - we desperately need to get the Tories out of power before they do yet more harm.
He doesn't even have a mandate from his own party members; they voted for Truss.
It grates every time he references the 'cost of living crisis', like they had no hand in it at all. Would the UK be abandoning it's climate change pledges had the Truss/Kwasi budget not happened? I don't think so.
No, it was just global events outwith our control like
BrexitCOVID* and Russia's invasion of Ukraine**. IfG reckons lots of causes but finger the hike in prices as due to the effects of the war - (though it says the "crisis" became apparent in 2021).* For one - buying PPE in a pandemic is always pricey! Especially if you didn't really check the sellers other than they happened to be people your mates recommended. To be fair although that's millions that's just pennies compared to the overall total.
** A more informed person than me might have some comparisons to draw with former wars and turning blind eyes to an aggressor while taking their money etc. Hopefully all can at least agree it's an enormously expensive mess, except for the arms sellers (and sadly - arms and legs sellers, now and for decades to come).
Hey! He understands. Just because he's the richest PM ever doesn't mean he doesn't understand what it's like to be poor.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/12/rishi-sunak-has-electri...
PM will pick up cost of upgrade work in North Yorkshire, and no suggestion he received preferential treatment (so that's alright then...).
Yeah, I'm sure he understands what it's like to be poor...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/12/rishi-sunak-has-electri...
PM will pick up cost of upgrade work in North Yorkshire, and no suggestion he received preferential treatment (so that's alright then...).
Yeah, I'm sure he understands what it's like to be poor...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM
Cost of living crisis is happening right across Europe. Many countries have been hit far harder than UK.
The Kwarteng budget had no long term impact on UK finances.
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