Desperate Rishi Sunak is showing his true colours – and they don’t include green

The prime minister is sacrificing his party’s eco agenda as part of a general lurch to the right – but vacating the centre-ground is fraught with electoral danger, writes Andrew Grice

It is clear Sunak will throw the kitchen sink at Labour and it is bound to inflict some damage (PA Archive)

The contours of the Conservatives’ campaign at next year’s general election are emerging earlier than they expected. Rishi Sunak had intended to move up a gear in the autumn – a tacit admission that his five pledges on the economy, NHS and small boats remain undelivered and have failed to close Labour’s 20-point lead in the opinion polls.

Then the Tories’ unexpected victory in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election handed Sunak a precious dividing line with a reformed Labour Party. The deciding issue – the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone – was a public health rather than environmental issue, but the £12.50-a-day charge was an irresistible opportunity to paint Labour as the party that will charge ordinary people for going green.