When it comes to the climate, let Liz Truss be judged by her deeds – not her words

Editorial: It is now a decade since David Cameron described his government as ‘the greenest in history’ – and three years since Boris Johnson promised to make Britain the ‘cleanest, greenest country on Earth’

Truss is different. She pays lip service to the climate crisis (PA)

Fairly predictably, one of Labour’s attack lines against the “new” government is that it is “the same old Tories”.

There is a good deal of truth in that, though Liz Truss can counter – as she did at her first Prime Minister’s Questions today – with the jibe that Keir Starmer’s enthusiasm for a windfall tax proves that his party is “the same old Labour”. A nice debating point, and one that helps re-establish an old political dividing line. But it’s not one that will be received by the public.

However, there is one area of policy – and it’s a worrying one – where the Truss government genuinely represents a departure from her Conservative predecessors: the environment and the primacy of the net zero target. It is now a decade since David Cameron described his government as “the greenest in history”, and three years since Boris Johnson promised to make Britain the “cleanest, greenest country on Earth”. Theresa May, in the final days of her premiership, actually placed into law the 2050 net zero greenhouse gas emissions target.