Eco-activists rage as Tories pledge to axe ‘failed’ Climate Change Act

Theresa May went even further during her premiership, committing the UK to achieve "net-zero" by the same date.

The former Conservative prime minister's target faced heavy backlash, with some arguing the measure would heavily damage British industry and pile on costs for taxpayers.

However, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has pledged to “scrap the failed targets” should her party win the next election.

Ms Badenoch also vowed to replace the Climate Change Act with a strategy that puts “cheap and reliable energy" ahead of costly environmental targets.

A wave of environmentalist organisations have slammed the Tories' pledge to scrap the legislation.

Friends of the Earth chief executive Asad Rehman branded Ms Badenoch's move as "desperate".

Mr Rehman said: "For a mainstream political party to turn its back on the science in a desperate race to the bottom with those being bankrolled by discredited billionaires and dirty business, who want to stop climate action because it threatens their profits, is political suicide.

“Climate change is not some theoretical threat – we can see it out of our windows, in our flooded communities, in the excess deaths from extreme heat and in the supermarkets with rocketing food price increases."

Wildlife and Countryside Link chief executive Richard Benwell said reversing the Climate Change Act would represent a move of “national self-harm”.

Mr Benwell added that “cheap fossil fuel futures are a mirage” and warned that scrapping green laws would allow future governments to “trade away our future”.

Ms Badenoch's pledge has also drawn criticism from multiple parties across Westminster.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “This desperate policy from Kemi Badenoch, if ever implemented, would be an economic disaster and a total betrayal of future generations.

Mr Miliband vowed that the Government "will not let the Conservatives or Reform tank our country’s clean energy economy", which the minister has described as "booming".

The Green Party have labelled the Tories' proposal as "embarrassing".

Green MP Carla Denyer said: “Kemi Badenoch is taking the Conservatives even further down the path to irrelevance with this through-the-looking-glass idea.

“The vast majority of the British public want to see action to secure a safe climate for our children and grandchildren."

The Office for Budget Responsibility said earlier this year that Britain's self-imposed climate change measures will cost public finances around £30billion every year until at least 2051.

The figure from Britain's fiscal watchdog equates to around a total spend of £800billion to fully transition into a net-zero economy.

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