Monday, July 11, 2022
Race for the bottom
If there is one thing that is becoming immediately apparent about this very, very crowded Tory leadership race, we are going to end up much where we started, policy-wise, albeit with a more reliable and possibly better equipped Prime Minister, assuming that we don't get any of the really bonkers Boris-acolytes, of course.
So far all the candidates have said they are in favour of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda and the watering down of our human rights, they all want to cut taxes for businesses and their rich pals, just disagreeing on the timing, and they all want to continue undermining the Good Friday agreement by rewriting the Northern Ireland Protocol.
And now, according to the Independent, a group of net zero sceptics on the Tory back benches are hoping to move Boris Johnson’s would-be successors away from green policies.
They say that senior Tory MP Steve Baker – founder of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of backbenchers – has suggested that he would push for the next PM to dismantle the government’s climate agenda:
Some in the party fear top contenders such as Nadhim Zahawi and Liz Truss could be pressured into prioritising tax cuts over investment in renewable energy, as well as committing to an expansion of oil and gas production.
Tory peer Zac Goldsmith, who has attacked Rishi Sunak’s environmental record, told The Independent it would be better to have a Labour government than a leader who “deprioritises” action on net zero.
Lord Goldsmith added: “It would be a catastrophic error for Conservatives to select a candidate who deprioritises these issues, but if they do, then we can only hope voters replace the party at the available election.”
And this is just the start of the race. Once we are down to the last two and the candidates are starting to woo the right-wing backwoodsmen who make up the Tory rank and file, we could end up with a real race to the bottom. Goodness knows what sort of reactionaries policies the winner will end up committed to.
So far all the candidates have said they are in favour of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda and the watering down of our human rights, they all want to cut taxes for businesses and their rich pals, just disagreeing on the timing, and they all want to continue undermining the Good Friday agreement by rewriting the Northern Ireland Protocol.
And now, according to the Independent, a group of net zero sceptics on the Tory back benches are hoping to move Boris Johnson’s would-be successors away from green policies.
They say that senior Tory MP Steve Baker – founder of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group of backbenchers – has suggested that he would push for the next PM to dismantle the government’s climate agenda:
Some in the party fear top contenders such as Nadhim Zahawi and Liz Truss could be pressured into prioritising tax cuts over investment in renewable energy, as well as committing to an expansion of oil and gas production.
Tory peer Zac Goldsmith, who has attacked Rishi Sunak’s environmental record, told The Independent it would be better to have a Labour government than a leader who “deprioritises” action on net zero.
Lord Goldsmith added: “It would be a catastrophic error for Conservatives to select a candidate who deprioritises these issues, but if they do, then we can only hope voters replace the party at the available election.”
And this is just the start of the race. Once we are down to the last two and the candidates are starting to woo the right-wing backwoodsmen who make up the Tory rank and file, we could end up with a real race to the bottom. Goodness knows what sort of reactionaries policies the winner will end up committed to.
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