Burnham ‘determined’ to reach net zero by 2050

Andy Burnham has said he is “determined” for Britain to reach net zero by 2050. The Prime Minister recommitted to the headline environmental target, declaring that “in the coming years, we need to change the way we travel, build homes and produce energy”. Writing for The Guardian, Mr Burnham said he had “long seen the green transition as the best chance we will ever have to reindustrialise Britain”. Announcing £30m in funding for community power projects, he said: “I am determined that we meet the commitment on which Labour was elected and reach net zero by 2050. “I want Britain to believe in itself again. That will not happen by asking people to stand still while the world spins around them.” The remarks signal that Mr Burnham wants to demonstrate to voters he is still committed to Labour’s green targets amid speculation that he will approve new North Sea drilling . Last week, it emerged that the Prime Minister was expected to delay approving plans for the Jackdaw gas field until after the Holborn and St Pancras by-election in October. The contest, triggered by the resignation of Sir Keir Starmer, is seen as a two-horse race between Labour and the Green Party, whose leader, Zack Polanski, is standing. Mr Polanski made it clear he would campaign on the issue of oil and gas, and spent August criticising the Government for its slow response to the wildfires in England. Mr Burnham called an emergency Cobra meeting to discuss a response to the fires during recent heatwaves following a press conference called by Mr Polanski in August. He wrote in The Guardian on Thursday: “I am acutely aware that our changing climate is a major concern for many Britons, not least because we have just emerged from our hottest summer on record. “Punishing heatwaves left nurses collapsing on hospital wards and bus drivers working in 40C cabs. Wildfires destroyed homes, leaving families with nothing. And more extreme weather is forecast in the months ahead. “The climate crisis is not a distant threat. It is here and with us now. The British people are no longer insulated from the consequences and they do not want to be excluded from the solutions.” The formal decisions on Jackdaw and Rosebank, another North Sea gas field, lie with Miatta Fahnbulleh, the Energy Secretary. A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman pushed back against suggestions of a delay, saying there was no agreed timing for a decision on Jackdaw. Any new oil and gas drilling is strongly opposed by the Green Party and Labour MPs on the Left of the party. The Government has also set out plans to scrap net zero requirements for public contracts in an effort to drive growth. This involves ditching a long list of demands, including that firms competing for major government contracts commit to achieving net zero by 2050 and publish a plan to get there. The recommitment to 2050 draws a line between Labour and the Conservatives on the question of net zero, with Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, having vowed to scrap the target. Mrs Badenoch said that while “climate change is real”, the plan to go carbon neutral by 2050 was “a political fiction bankrupting the country”. Andrew Bowie, the shadow energy secretary, said that “chasing arbitrary targets like net zero 2050 is having real and damaging consequences”, adding: “So much for the pragmatism Burnham promised.”