Grant Shapps reignites Tory war over Net Zero with warning there can be no ‘global security unless the world hits its climate targets’ as he reveals plans for UK to host world energy security summit – and China could be invited

Cabinet minister Grant Shapps hinted today that Tory climate critics should tone down their attacks on green policies as he warned ‘we can’t have global security without Net Zero’.

In a week when the Tories are trying to make political capital out of a hardline response to illegal migration the Energy Secretary warned that changing ‘weather patterns’ meant that ‘millions of people are having to uproot’.

He also revealed he wants the UK to host an energy security summit next year to discuss measures that could avoid price spikes like those seen when Russia invaded Ukraine. 

And speaking to the Politico website he refused to rule out a seat at the table for China, although Russia will not be invited.

The comments are likely to inflame tensions with the right of the party, which is largely hardline over immigration, climate change and relations with China. 

The number of people crossing the English Channel on small boats in the last five-and-a-half years could have passed 100,000 following fresh arrivals of migrants on lifeboats today.

Laying down the law: Mr Shapps (pictured with UK nuclear police) revealed he wants the UK to host an energy security summit next year to discuss measures that could avoid price spikes like those seen when Russia invaded Ukraine

In a week when the Tories are trying to make political capital out of a hardline response to illegal migration the Energy Secretary warned that changing ‘weather patterns’ meant that ‘millions of people are having to uproot’. Pictured are migrants crossing the Mediterranean being rescued near Lampedusa, Italy

PA news agency analysis of Government figures since current records began on January 1 2018 showed that as of Tuesday 99,960 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey.

And RNLI lifeboats were spotted bringing dozens to shore on Thursday, meaning it was likely the milestone has been reached.

The Tories are at loggerheads over green policies as it languishes behind Labour in the polls. 

Critics including other Cabinet ministers have urged Rishi Sunak to ease back from measures designed to help the UK become carbon neutral by 2050, including a ban on new diesel and petrol vehicle sales by 2030.

But Mr Shapps told Politico: ‘We can’t have global security without net zero. There’s no global security if millions of people are having to uproot because of weather patterns.’ 

Asked whether China could be invited to the energy security summit next year, he added:  ‘I want the energy security conference to be inclusive in nature. We haven’t got to the detail of invitations at this stage.’

But he said global oil giants like  Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE should be ‘in the room’ at what he billed as ‘a real-world, gritty energy security conference where we are talking about the realities of the world that we live in’.

Last month it was revealed ministers are lobbying for Net Zero targets to be eased to help hard-=pressed families and the car industry. 

Backing for the prohibition of petrol and diesel vehicles in just seven years time has fallen to just 36 per cent, down from 51 per cent two years ago.

A Whitehall source told the Mail that Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch has warned fellow ministers that the 2030 deadline risks wrecking the car industry. 

Toyota said last year it will end UK car production if hybrids are banned in 2030, while Vauxhall’s parent group Stellantis warned MPs in May that there is ‘insufficient battery production’ in the UK and Europe to meet the target.

Mrs Badenoch is understood to have raised concerns about the target with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Transport Secretary Mark Harper. 

A source said: ‘Kemi is responsible for the car industry and she has heard concerns from the industry about the zero emissions vehicle mandate, so she is raising it with colleagues.’

This week it was revealed public support for green measures including a 2030 ban on new fossil fuel car sales is waning in the face of increasing economic hardship.

Backing for the prohibition of petrol and diesel vehicles in just seven years time has fallen to just 36 per cent, down from 51 per cent two years ago.

Backing for the ban – which will allow hybrid sales to continue until 2035 – is acute among Tory voters, with support falling from 41 to 19 per cent.

Support has also fallen for other measures including taxes on gas bills, flying and fuel as families struggle with high inflation and a stagnant economy, according to the YouGov poll in the Times.

Overall almost a third (32 per cent) of voters believe the drive for Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 will have a negative impact on the economy, up from 22 per cent.

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