Onward’s Chief Data Analyst and Head of our Future Politics Programme James Blagden wrote for Conservative Home about why all the polling evidence shows that the next Conservative leader must keep the UK’s net zero target. He writes:
“There is a clear preference for holding firm on carbon emissions. The next Leader of the Conservative Party risks alienating their supporters if they row back on their predecessor’s promise. Our poll found that a proposal to drop Net Zero would risk losing nearly a quarter of current Conservative voters.
“The risk of dropping Net Zero is clear. One in four (24 percent) people who plan to vote Conservative say that they would not vote Tory in a general election in which “the Conservative Party ran with a promise to remove the UK’s target to reach Net Zero by 2050”. This rises to 32 percent of Wavering Conservatives who would find this move on the environment a step too far. And only 23 percent of ex-Conservatives say they would return to voting Tory if they promised to ditch Net Zero. Clearly the losses outweigh the gains.”
You can read the full piece here.
