A useful enemy? Why Tories and Reform are calling net zero policy into question

Cross-party consensus on climate appears to have broken down despite polls showing public support for action

• Labour will drop unaffordable' net zero policies, predicts Reform's deputy leader

Just as Labour forges ahead with net zero policies, the chief energy spokespeople of the UK's two main rightwing opposition parties are openly questioning long-settled climate science, in what seems like a mission to discredit and confuse the whole issue.

It is a development that would have been unthinkable just three years ago, when the four-decade-long cross-party consensus on the climate still held firm. Even up to last year's general election, every mainland party other than Reform UK campaigned on a commitment to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.