Kemi Badenoch has said the “rush” to reach net-zero carbon emissions is forcing up the cost of summer holidays.
The Conservative Party leader opened a new domestic arrivals building at London Stansted Airport in her North West Essex constituency on Friday.
She slammed Labour’s “ideological” plans to reach net zero by 2050, a target she previously dismissed as impossible to meet, and said they would hit holidaymakers.
“Labour’s ideological rush to Net Zero 2050 is not only bankrupting our country and leaving us dangerously reliant on China, it’s also making holidays more expensive, just as the cost-of-living crisis for working people gets worse.
“Under my leadership the Conservative Party are going to make things easier for the makers, the people who work hard to provide for their families, and not force up the cost of their summer holidays,” she said.
The Tory leader pointed to plans to raise air passenger duty and the Climate Change Committee’s call for the cost of decarbonising aviation to be reflected in the cost of flights.
Speaking to airport staff during the visit, Mrs Badenoch told them how the pandemic showed how “critical” Stansted was for the local economy.
“But I always tell the story of how when Covid hit and so many people lost their jobs, all of those people turned up in my surgeries.
“It really showed just how critical the airport was, how important it was for the local community and well beyond.”
The new arrivals building was part of a £1.1 billion transformation at Stansted, the UK’s fourth largest airport.
The work, expected to continue over the next three to four years, will also include a £600 million extension to the main terminal, increasing its size by 40%.
