{"id":591697,"date":"2026-08-21T15:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T15:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/591697\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T15:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T15:44:10","slug":"were-not-remotely-prepared-labour-mps-fear-party-has-gone-soft-on-climate-crisis-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/591697\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re not remotely prepared\u2019: Labour MPs fear party has gone soft on climate crisis | Climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain has experienced a summer of record-breaking wildfires, deadly heat and drought, with almost 2,900 heat-associated deaths recorded in England during May and June alone. Homes have been destroyed by fires in the West Midlands<\/a>, and deadly wildfires have swept across Europe.<\/p>\n

Despite the ever more visible impacts of the climate crisis, there is widespread concern that there has been no big political push at the centre of British politics or a renewed case for net zero.<\/p>\n

Some Labour<\/a> MPs believe the government\u2019s caution is a huge mistake. One said the the approach was \u201ca failure to recognise where our vote is\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jeevun Sandher, the Labour MP for Loughborough and a parliamentary private secretary in the energy department, argues climate is an electoral dividing line Labour should embrace because the party\u2019s voters remain strongly supportive of net zero, even though support has dropped on the right.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate is a fight that fires up our base, persuades the middle and splits our opponents,\u201d he said, arguing Labour should combine a climate message with an affordability offer.<\/p>\n

Campaigners from Fossil Free London staged a demonstration in front of the Treasury on Monday. Photograph: Guy Bell\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Another Labour MP said: \u201cWe\u2019re not remotely prepared for the fact that our voter base is radically changing. We\u2019re trying to ride two horses. Half of our movement is based on net zero and left-leaning values and we\u2019re still running scared of Reform.\u201d<\/p>\n

The political pressure from the right has been clear this week. Reform UK\u2019s deputy leader, Richard Tice<\/a>, prompted a big backlash from nurses, medical experts, politicians and campaigners for urging British people to enjoy the warmth of the recent heatwaves, while dismissing efforts to tackle the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s a bit warm, let\u2019s enjoy it<\/a>,\u201d Tice said. \u201cAnd if it means that English wine and sparkling wine gets better and better, fantastic. That means we can take on the French \u2013 fantastic. Let\u2019s celebrate some of these things rather than just be sort of doom and gloom about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claire Coutinho, the shadow energy and net zero secretary, called for cheap electricity to take priority over net zero targets. In a speech on Wednesday, she said the UK should focus on bringing down the price of electricity and then let \u201cconsumer choice be king\u201d, abandoning what she believes are expensive net zero policies in favour of a cheap energy system that will rely on more nuclear and gas.<\/p>\n

Reform\u2019s deputy leader, Richard Tice, said people should be excited about hotter weather improving English viticulture. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

But people in Britain are not as divided on the issue as the political debate may suggest. Recent polling from More in Common found two in three Britons (67%) are worried about unbearably hot weather becoming more frequent in the UK, while 86% believe climate change was at least partly responsible for the recent heatwaves. This includes 73% of Reform supporters, 87% of Conservative supporters and 96% of Labour supporters.<\/p>\n

However, fear over the climate crisis is decoupling from support for net zero. Even as climate concern remains stable, and spiked during the recent heatwave, support for Britain\u2019s climate targets is eroding. While two-thirds of people say they are worried about climate change, support for the UK\u2019s net zero target has fallen from 68% in 2024 to 45% today. Opposition has almost doubled over the same period, from 12% to 23%.<\/p>\n

There are different positions on the right, too, with Max Anderson of the Conservative Environment Network saying \u201cslowing climate change by reducing emissions remains essential, but we have to broaden climate debate beyond decarbonisation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Luke Tryl, the executive director of More in Common, said: \u201cThe public are definitely freaked out. Two-thirds of the country say they are worried about the heat events.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is definitely an opportunity here for Andy Burnham<\/a> as support for net zero hasn\u2019t changed at all among Labour 2024 voters, though it has dropped massively among the [much smaller number of] Tory voters. This is a clear example of elite-level consensus breaking down, leading to public consensus breaking down.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The prime minister, Andy Burnham, is being urged to give a stronger message on the climate by some of his MPs. Photograph: WPA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

YouGov\u2019s polling also shows a split on what should be done to address the climate crisis. The environment has risen to the fourth highest issue on the pollster\u2019s salience tracker, with 25% of people listing it as one of their main concerns. But the usual summer increase in concern over climate breakdown has actually been lower than in previous summers, even as there has recently been an increase in the number of people saying the government is not doing enough to tackle it.<\/p>\n

Government figures reject the suggestion that Burnham\u2019s Labour has retreated from net zero, pointing to the clean power 2030 target<\/a>, large-scale investment in clean energy including nuclear power, the transition to electric vehicles and heat pumps, and the commitment not to issue new oil and gas licences.<\/p>\n

A Labour source said: \u201cThis government has the most ambitious energy climate agenda in British history. Labour MPs know that this is the right agenda for the country and is essential for uniting our electoral coalition.\u201d<\/p>\n

A second source said: \u201cBurnham\u2019s wildfire video shows that this government is going to confidently make the case for climate action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Figures say the issue is not that voters have stopped worrying about the climate crisis, but that net zero targets are increasingly becoming associated with personal sacrifice, especially during a cost of living crisis. They argue voters want action, but are less willing to accept higher bills or further costs just to hit targets.<\/p>\n

A source familiar with the government\u2019s climate agenda argued that under Keir Starmer, No 10 allowed speculation about a rowback from net zero to grow despite those policy changes never materialising.<\/p>\n

But some parties have tried to force the climate crisis higher up the agenda. Zack Polanski<\/a>, the leader of the Greens, called for an emergency Cobra meeting before Burnham convened one and held a \u201creality check\u201d conference on extreme heat.<\/p>\n

The Liberal Democrats have also argued that Britain needs to become \u201cclimate ready\u201d, pushing measures to protect homes and buildings from extreme heat and being \u201cunapologetic\u201d about keeping action to cut emissions high on the agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain has experienced a summer of record-breaking wildfires, deadly heat and drought, with almost 2,900 heat-associated deaths recorded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,85,46],"class_list":["post-591697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}