Cllr Richard Clewer is the Leader of Wiltshire Council.
Conservatives faced significant losses up and down the country in the local elections. There is scant comfort in knowing that the results reflected national sentiments rather than the efforts of local hard-working Conservatives councillors. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.
There are many calls in the wake of the election results for things to change. Perhaps most relevant are the cries to listen to our Councillors and act to control building on green fields. We must, however, resist the disheartening suggestions — from certain quarters — that action on Net Zero is somehow the cause of Conservative losses or that to see off the challenge of Starmer, we must abandon our commitment to our ambitious climate initiatives.
Firstly, though colleagues stood against independent candidates loudly advertising their anti-Net Zero platforms, the latter were, for the most part, rejected by the electorate. The voters we lost didn’t pivot further right; it was the Liberal Democrats, Greens, and Labour who benefited. All parties committed to Net Zero.
Poll after poll shows a vanishingly small fraction of voters want us to abandon the Conservative government’s world-leading climate goals. This doesn’t mean we should ignore those with concerns about the journey to Net Zero. We must take the public with us at every stage. But it does mean that as well as being the wrong thing to do, there is absolutely no chance of building an electoral coalition, locally or nationally, based on reneging our commitment to Net Zero. Net Zero is not a poison dart, and ditching it is not a silver bullet.
Interestingly, councils like Solihull, North Kesteven, Peterborough, and Herefordshire, where local Conservatives defied the national trend and gained seats, all have something in common: their membership of the UK100 network of which I am co-president alongside Tracy Brabin. UK100 is a cross-party group of local authorities committed to ambitious climate and clean air action.
While not every Conservative member of UK100 escaped the national trend, I want to take the opportunity to congratulate my colleagues who — against the national grain — have been rewarded for their dedication to creating cleaner greener and healthier local communities.
I also want to urge them, and my fellow leaders across the country, to stand firm on your Net Zero goals. It’s not just about the Conservative Party’s proud environmental legacy; it’s about ensuring Britain’s future as a prosperous, world-leading power. And that starts with local authorities; we can demonstrate that not only can we reduce our carbon emissions but that we can save money doing it.
In Mission Zero, Liz Truss’s independent Net Zero tsar, Chris Skidmore MP, reiterated that climate action represents the biggest economic opportunity in a generation while outlining why local authorities are key to unlocking it. With that in mind, UK100 has produced a new report.
“Powers in Place” isn’t just another policy document. It’s a comprehensive handbook and roadmap for ambitious local action. It reviews the powers available to local authorities and highlights the pioneering local authorities spearheading the Net Zero journey. From planning to parking, Powers in Place will tell you exactly what powers you have at your disposal.
It is an updated version of 2021’s “Power Shift” report and an invaluable resource for any local authority looking to meaningfully tackle climate change. I used the previous version to shape Wiltshire Council’s decarbonisation strategy which has already seen the council reduce its emission by 81 per cent since 2014, saving us millions of pounds a year as well. It is one of the most invaluable resources available to local authorities. I strongly recommend that anyone working on local climate change gets a copy of Powers in Place. It’s available to both UK100 members and non-members alike.
As we navigate the aftermath of the 2023 local elections, we should remember that Conservatives don’t back down, we rise up. And we need to rise up to the challenge of Net Zero and seize the opportunity of a lifetime — if we do it locally, we’ll save taxpayers £137 billion while delivering a £14 return on investment for every £1 spent, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
As Conservatives, we have a rich tradition of resilience in the face of adversity. It’s time we leverage that resilience and look forward. With a cross-party consensus on Net Zero and strong public support, we are not going to win on ambitions, we’re going to win on delivery — both locally and nationally. We are especially well placed to tie our Net Zero work in with our supporters’ natural focus on preserving our environment and enhancing biodiversity.
So as we dust ourselves off from these elections, let’s not lose sight of the progress we have made — no other party in the UK can claim as much Net Zero action as we can. Let’s use this moment as a catalyst for further delivery, embracing the challenge of Net Zero and leading our communities towards a cleaner, healthier, and more prosperous Britain.
It won’t take us from net -1,000 seats to general election victory, but Net Zero is part of the solution, not the problem. It is one of the achievements we should be able to point to next year as we set out why we should be trusted to continue working to deliver the people’s priorities. It’s the cornerstone of a positive Conservative vision for the future — something that is more important than ever, with our opponents going negative and refusing to say what they stand for.