Sir Keir Starmer has labelled the Conservative Party leader a “climate defeatist” as he defended the Government’s record on winter fuel payments.
The Prime Minister at the despatch box described a “global race” for “the jobs of the future”, adding that he believed “Britain can win that”.
But Kemi Badenoch urged Sir Keir to “change course” to tackle energy costs during Prime Minister’s Questions in their first exchange since both Labour and the Conservatives lost hundreds of council seats at last week’s English local elections.
Mrs Badenoch referred to comments made by Labour former prime minister Sir Tony Blair in the foreword for a report from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
“This approach to net zero is ‘irrational’, it’s ‘doomed to fail’,” Mrs Badenoch told the Commons.
“Those aren’t my words. They’re Tony Blair’s.”
Sir Tony introduced the paper published in April, titled The Climate Paradox, by saying it was a “chance to reset the debate, not by denying the urgency of climate action, but by updating the strategy”.
The Conservative leader continued: “The truth is, the Prime Minister is on another planet. His net zero plans mean ever-more expensive energy.
“Across the country, jobs are disappearing. Last week, a ceramics factory in Stoke closed because of energy costs. This morning, 250 more job losses have been announced in the North Sea.
“And yet the amount of gas the UK is importing is doubling, so why is he shutting down the North Sea rather than getting our oil and gas out of the ground, and making energy cheaper?”
Sir Keir replied that “oil and gas will be part of the mix for many decades to come, but net zero is an opportunity to be seized”, adding: “The global race is on for the jobs of the future and I believe Britain can win that race.
“The leader of the Opposition I don’t think is yet a climate denier, but she’s a climate defeatist.
“She doesn’t believe in Britain’s ability to win the race for our economy, businesses and jobs, and they’ve never backed Britain.
“There’s nothing patriotic about that.”
Mr Badenoch said in response: “Pensioners are poorer and people are being laid off. From winter fuel to net zero, his energy policy is a disaster and everyone knows it.
“We know it. The public know it. The unions know it. His MPs know it. Even Tony Blair knows it.
“His only answer is to go further and faster in the wrong direction. Why should we all suffer because he won’t admit he’s got this wrong?”
Sir Keir said Mrs Badenoch attends the Wednesday back-and-forth each week to “talk the country down, to carp from the sidelines”, and told MPs: “Of course nobody wants to see job losses, but she should address her comments to the tens of thousands of men and women in this country working on renewables for the future of our country, and tell them that she doesn’t want that.
“That is anti-growth, anti-jobs and anti-working people.”
He said Mrs Badenoch “can’t even bring herself to celebrate” a new trade deal which ministers have struck with India, which he described as “the best deal since we left the EU”.
Earlier in their exchange, the Conservative leader alluded to Labour’s warning there was a £22 billion “black hole” in the public finances after they took office.
“The only black hole is the one the Prime Minister is digging,” Mrs Badenoch said.
Referring to a slimmed-down winter fuel payments programme, after the previously universal system was made available to only benefits claimants last year, the leader of the Opposition continued: “His mayor in Doncaster (Ros Jones) says it’s wrong. His First Minister in Wales (Baroness Morgan of Ely) says it’s wrong.
“Even his own MPs are saying it’s wrong. He’s refused to listen to me on this, will he at least listen to his own party and change course?”
Sir Keir replied: “No other party is saying how they would invest in our NHS and public services. No other party is focused on the long-term prosperity of Britain. No-one on this side is denying how big the challenge is that we face, but no-one on that side of the House is even prepared to take those challenges on.”
Mrs Badenoch said her party “wouldn’t balance it on the back of pensioners”.
Asked why he had “broken his promise to cut energy bills by £300”, Sir Keir said that “the way to bring energy bills down for good is to deliver cheap, clean, homegrown energy”.
He added: “In the meantime we’ve extended the warm homes discount to six million households – one in five families, that’s £150 off the bills next winter.
“But what won’t bring energy bills down is the leader of the Opposition’s policy leaving us hooked on fossil fuels, at the mercy of dictators like (Russian president Vladimir) Putin.”
