Labour prepares to relax net zero targets after admitting 'affordability challenges'

Published: 22:30, 7 August 2026 | Updated: 22:51, 7 August 2026 Labour is set to soften its 'net zero madness' after admitting the transition could face Britain with an 'affordability challenge'. The energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said she would not let Ed Miliband's 'clean pledge' come at a cost for households. Speaking to The Times, she said: 'We need to keep momentum [towards clean power]... But we've also got to do it in a way that works for people. And that is about affordability. 'In the end, my job is to do the transition in a way that works for people's pockets. Candidly, my job is to keep people with us. So 81 per cent of the public believe that renewables are a good thing and support it. I need to keep that number.  'The way I do that is to say to people, we are doing the hard trade-offs to make sure that we are doing this transition in a way that still delivers affordability.' Meanwhile the Department for Transport is set to hold a consultation next week which will propose relaxations of the rules.  Current laws state that by 2030 only 20 per cent of new cars sold can use fossil fuel, but now ministers are aiming to minimise the rules on their sale. It could mean that by the end of the decade, the figure would look more like 50 per cent. The energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said she would not let Ed Miliband's 'clean pledge' come at a cost for households The Government pledged to ban the sale of new fully petrol or diesel cars and vans from 2030. Under Labour's zero emission vehicle (Zev) mandate, at least 28 per cent of new cars sold by each manufacturer in the UK this year must be zero emission, which generally means pure electric. Sales of new hybrids that cannot be plugged in will be permitted to continue until 2035.  It comes as Andy Burnham is facing mounting pressure to end Labour's Net Zero targets and axe a controversial windfall tax after BP's bombshell announcement it is pulling out of the North Sea. The energy giant is putting its North Sea business up for sale as it seeks to end six decades of oil and gas production in the basin. The Prime Minister was told the news should serve as a 'deadly serious wake up call' over the future of Britain's huge natural resource amid warnings of an industry 'extinction'. Opposition parties called on the Government to scrap the 'punitive' Energy Profits Levy and lift the ban on new North Sea oil and gas licences imposed by Miliband when he was energy secretary. BP's announcement last week came just a day after Mr Burnham admitted that North Sea oil revenues could ease the cost of living crisis. He hinted at a shift in Labour's ideological ban on new North Sea drilling, which is part of the party's 2024 manifesto, saying that at a time of tight public finances the North Sea was a resource 'we can't ignore'. Experts have predicted that lifting the ban imposed by Mr Miliband, who is now Foreign Secretary, could generate £25billion in extra tax revenues for the UK over the next decade and support thousands of jobs. But industry figures suggested BP had decided it isn't prepared to stick around to see if Mr Burnham can re-energise UK energy policy. The 117-year-old firm is set to no longer be part of North Sea production after it announced it is putting its North Sea business up for sale as part of a strategy to slim down the group. Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride told Mr Burnham last week: 'Get Britain drilling!' He said: 'If Burnham was really serious about tackling the cost of living and getting energy bills down, he would immediately approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank sites and end the ban on new oil and gas licences. 'That would be the first step towards ending Labour's Net Zero madness that is driving up costs for families and businesses and holding our economy back.'