So there we have it. Rishi Sunak’s big announcement this afternoon was, er, a not entirely unreasonable five-year delay in the ban on petrol cars and gas boilers. Snap polling suggests it has gone down well with the public, who back the measure by 50 to 34 per cent. But judging from some of the more extreme reactions on Twitter/X, you would think the Prime Minister’s decision to bring the UK into line with the EU on a 2035 ban for internal combustion engines amounted to a massacre of the firstborn. Below are five of the more excitable responses to Sunak’s announcement today…
‘Totally evil’
For calm and reasoned moderation, we can always depend on that bastion of common sense, Jolyon Maugham KC. His reaction to the PM’s shift in policy? ‘Totally evil’ was his pithy verdict on ‘#OilSoakedSunak’, whom he called ‘fundamentally dishonest’, ‘utterly contemptible’ and ‘deliberately undermining the efforts we all make to save the planet.’ Steerpike eagerly awaits similar spleen being directed at Brussels…
‘Bring back Boris’
Maugham wasn’t the only Remainer venting their fury. Step forward journalist Ian Dunt, whose reaction to Sunak’s speech was to declare that ‘He’s fucking done it. He’s made me miss Boris Johnson.’ One for the #BringBackBoris brigade of James Duddridge et al?
‘He’s lost Europe’s chancellories’
A five-year delay in Britain’s electric car rollout is enough to apparently bar the British Prime Minister from the chancellories of Europe. That’s according to journalist Ben Judah who said of Sunak’s decision to rule out new taxes on meat and flying:
Embassies in London will be seeing this — the Prime Minister *invented* several policies that were *never* going to become law in order to *scrap* them — and conclude he is desperate and not long for this world politically. Expect more high profile invitations for Keir Starmer.
Mr S suspects that a 20-point deficit in the polls might be something more to do with Sunak not being ‘long for this world politically.’ But who knew belated boiler bans were so unpopular, eh?
‘Snap election’
It’s not just the Twitterati having a meltdown. Take a bow Zac Goldsmith, the Tory peer who says he’s thinking about voting Labour – even though as a sitting peer, he is in fact barred. The ardent Boris-backer posted earlier that ‘This move by the PM vindicates my decision to noisily resign. I didn’t want vindication. I hoped it would add pressure on govt to prove me and others wrong. We need an election. Now.’
Nothing screams ‘seat for life’ like calling for your colleagues to be obliterated at the polls…
‘He will never be forgiven!’
Today’s Sunak statement was viewed by some as underwhelming. But at least one man in parliament clearly thought it was a game-changer that ought to go down in the history books. That distinction goes to Labour MP Barry Sheerman, who fulminated that ‘this Sunak U turn is a devastating blow & betrayal of our planet survival plans! He will never be forgiven!’ adding ‘Rishi Sunak & his family have made more of a carbon footprint with their private jets & luxury yachts than most small countries!’
Can we get a fact-check on that, Bazza?
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