A welcome sign that the Conservative Party is greener than ever

A group of Tory MPs has called for the internal combustion engine to be abolished by 2030 and for a carbon tax to be imposed on polluting products, writes John Rentoul

The most eye-catching policy in the pamphlet is the suggestion that petrol and diesel vehicles should be phased out five years earlier than planned (Getty)

The highest compliment that any party can pay to its opponents is to copy them. Thus Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens should be flattered by the latest pamphlet from the One Nation group of Conservative MPs.

It was the Labour government that started to set targets in law for reducing climate change, and it was Lib Dem ministers in the coalition government who drove through the remarkable shift towards wind power in electricity generation.

The Conservative Party, on the other hand, has often seemed to face both ways. Margaret Thatcher was the first prime minister to take the science of climate change seriously, and destroyed a lot of heavy industry, but otherwise was a champion of consumption-led growth. David Cameron posed with huskies but complained about “green crap” on electricity bills. Theresa May gave the 14th go-ahead for a third runway at Heathrow, but just before she stepped down from office, set a target date for Britain to be net zero in 2050.