Business Minister Lord Dominic Johnson denied that Rishi Sunak has turned his back on the green agenda by watering down the Government’s environmental policies.
He told GB News: “Well, I just dispute that totally. He hasn’t turned his back on the green agenda.
“I think actually, we’re pushing forward even faster. We were the first country to really get our heads around offshore wind which is why we’re the global leader. It’s absolutely extraordinary, the interest that we’ve generated.
“We’re also developing the scientific skills to enable us to do that better and make us more efficient in other areas of extraordinary development, our nuclear fusion, hydrogen.”
In a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he continued: “What the Prime Minister said was we’re actually totally committed to our net zero targets. We have to do it in a practical and manageable way.
“The people watching this programme are the ones to know that we can create sustainable and cheap energy but we can do it in a phased and measured way that doesn’t overly impact the economy. I think we’re sort of having the best of both worlds.”
He said a global investment summit being held in the UK today would help the country become a world leader in science.
Lord Johnson said: “The Prime Minister has a very clear goal to turn us into a science and technology superpower and they’re not just empty words. It’s not just an election slogan.
“It is key, because if we don’t own the IP, if we don’t commercialise the extraordinary brains and talents of the people in this country, we will end up being a second class nation.
“So, this is a national endeavour, one, and two, it’s working.”
