A huge hole is appearing in the Net Zero ambitions of politicians as people wake up to the prospect of imminent impoverishment under the scheme.
Hard working folk want a cleaner healthier environment, but they don’t want to be financially ruined and returned to the dark ages trying to achieve impossible targets.
If the overpaid, under-occupied Scottish Greens Minister Patrick Harvie thinks he is going to reduce millions of Scots to penury by forcing them to get rid of perfectly good gas boilers, and replace them with enormously expensive, unproven heat pumps, he’ll be told to get on his bike by those facing financial ruin with his madcap plans.
In London voters have told their mayor Sadiq Khan where he can stick his attempts to widen his Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZ) to the capital’s suburbs.
Londoners voting with feet on low emission zones
Labour was hammered by the hugely unpopular Tories in the recent by election in Uxbridge, and Sir Keir Starmer has laid the blame for defeat at the door of Khan’s policy, whereby anyone with an older vehicle would have to stump up £12.50 a day to drive it.
That might be chickenfeed to Khan on his whopping £154,000 a year salary, but it’s crippling to thousands of those who earn a very modest living.
Starmer said “I don’t think there’s any doubt that ULEZ was the reason that we lost the election” and he told his mayor to “reflect” on whether the scheme should continue as planned.
Now Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, fearing a Tory wipe-out at the next election, has seen the way the wind is blowing and is hinting at scaling back on green taxes which threaten living standards.
Having promised a ban on petrol and diesel cars by 2030 there are intimations that he’s back pedalling, saying “That remains our commitment.
“What we want to do is ensure that this approach is proportionate and pragmatic and doesn’t unfairly impact the public”.
That sounds like a reverse gear being hastily engaged as the harsh realities of adopting simplistic solutions to seriously complex problems become apparent.
No one wants to breathe dirty air or live in a harmful environment, but we’ve moved too quickly without deep enough thought for the economic effects on millions of people.
Policies, while laudable in their aims, may be ruinously expensive and also impractical in solving the problems we face.
Dogmatic movements like Just Stop Oil and their well heeled supporters would happily return us to the Jurassic period tomorrow.
Harsh realities becoming apparent
They want to impose their beliefs on the rest of us without democratic debate.
Now though they’re discovering that when you constantly ram ill-conceived beliefs and plans down the throats of others, without bothering to listen to their opinions, they eventually tell you where to stick those views.
The harsh realities of climate proposals have taken a long time to feed though to the wider public but it’s now becoming apparent that many aspects of our lives are under attack from climate radicals who will brook no argument or discussion.
There has even been an inane suggestion that home owners in Scotland could be barred from selling their houses if they have a gas boiler.
Even Patrick Harvie and the Greens, who have the SNP on a dog lead in the Holyrood parliament, couldn’t be daft enough to try such a loony policy which Josef Stalin would’ve baulked at.
Many among our political classes are already out of touch with huge numbers of folk on the cost of living crisis.
They’ll take people with them on climate change with workable and sensible solutions, but not by imposing madcap Marxist policies.
Should House of Lords have minimum age?
Age shouldn’t be a bar to advancement and progression in life.
Ability is what should count.
But there are certain occupations where a lengthy degree of experience is important.
Most professions and trades demand a reasonable period of training and expertise before senior positions are occupied.
Making laws for the rest of us to live by is also an area where that approach should be considered.
Last week a Labour MP aged 25 was elected, having previously been a parliamentary researcher.
Now the unelected House of Lords welcomes Baroness Owen and Lord Kempsell, described as having less than a decade of work experience between them.
They’ll sit in the upper chamber for the rest of their days without the need to put themselves before any electorate, and decide and debate issues over which they have little practical knowledge or experience.
For this they’ll claim £342 per day tax free for each of the four days of the week.
Nice work if you can get it.
There’ll always be occasional individuals who disprove the idea that long experience is vital in performing with distinction, but in vital areas like law making, I think a certain degree of worldliness is necessary.
