Kemi Badenoch, the Business and Trade Secretary, has cautioned that the Net Zero aim is impeding Britain’s efforts to become more competitive, as well as her efforts to repeal several EU legislation.
Badenoch cited her “predecessors'” vows to net zero, notably current Energy Secretary Grant Shapps, as making her job more difficult as she seeks to reduce red tape for businesses.
During an appearance before the European Scrutiny Committee, she was grilled, declaring she was “not an arsonist” as she clashed with Tory MPs over the decision to dial back post-Brexit ambitions to abolish EU laws.
The Government had originally promised a “sunset” clause on all laws carried over from the trade bloc by the end of 2023 under its Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
But the blanket sunset clause was ditched earlier this year and replaced with a narrowed target of 600 such laws to be revoked by the end of the year, well short of the more than 4,000 previously pledged.
She told the committee: “The principles I’m starting from are what can we do to reduce the burden on business. Commitments have been made by my predecessors around workers’ rights and environmental regulations and so on, and so there are constraints already.
“I’m coming in in a constrained environment. Make life easier for people, make things less complicated, that’s where we have focused on.
“There are some things which I think other departments can do, but they’ve made commitments.
“I’m thinking about the net zero department or transport. They’ve made commitments which are in tension with what I’m trying to do.”