Rishi says families shouldn’t have to suffer in quest for Net Zero as he bins petrol car ban in win for Sun campaign

THE PM hailed The Sun tonight as he delayed crippling net zero targets.

Drivers have a five-year reprieve from going electric.

A ban on gas boilers was binned, along with taxes on meat and flying.

Rishi Sunak praised The Sun’s “brilliant” Give Us A Brake campaign, adding: “Families shouldn’t have to pay an unaffordable price to reach net zero.”

Trailing by double digits in the opinion polls, the Prime ­Minister said it was time to step up a gear and be more honest about the trouble the country is in.

And in a massive win for The Sun’s Give Us A Brake campaign he put crippling net zero bans on cars and gas boilers at the top of his list.

The PM declared a “change of direction is needed” to keep the public onside over how to go carbon neutral by the middle of this century.

Speaking from No10 he said: “It should be you, the consumer, who makes that choice, not the Government forcing you to do it.”

Insisting he was still committed to the headline 2050 date, he warned it must be done in a “more proportionate way” that does not hurt household budgets.

He added: “It cannot be right for Westminster to impose such significant costs on working people.

“If we continue down this path, we risk losing the consent of the British people.”

Mr Sunak, who was forced to bring forward his net zero target delays after a major leak, announced:

• THE 2030 deadline to replace boilers with £10,000 heat pumps will be delayed;
• HANDOUTS to make the switch would be increased to £7,500;
• HOME insulation diktats would be relaxed;
• BONKERS proposals for seven household bins, forced car pooling and taxes on meat and flying would never return.

Writing in The Sun today, the PM added: “Hard-pressed families shouldn’t have to pay an unaffordable price to reach net zero.

“That’s my guiding principle when it comes to tackling ­climate change.

“It was the message of The Sun’s brilliant Give Us A Brake campaign this summer.

"And it’s why this week I am not going ahead with plans that would punish motorists and working people – instead I’m taking a long-term decision to meet our commitment in a better way.”

Announcing a major gear change on his premiership — dubbed “political Bazball” by aides — Mr Sunak said it is time to level with the public about problems facing the nation.

He told an audience of Cabinet allies and reporters: “It’s bigger than any single policy or issue.

“We’re going to change the way our politics works. We’re going to make different decisions. We won’t take the easy way out.”

His upending of net zero targets got a mixed reaction.

Ex-PM Liz Truss welcomed the changes as did dozens of MPs including Jacob Rees-Mogg, who praised the PM for reducing the load on taxpayers.

Yet some Tories, such as net zero tsar Chris Skidmore, warned the measures would “cost the UK jobs” in future green industries.

Ex-PM Boris Johnson, who imposed the 2030 car ban, said bosses “must have certainty about our net zero commitments”.

Downing Street will be buoyed by polling showing that 50 per cent of Brits support delaying the car ban to 2035, with just 34 per cent opposed.

But there was a major backlash from the motor industry.

Lisa Brankin, who chairs Ford UK, said: “Our business needs three things from the UK Government: ambition, commitment and consistency.

"A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.”

Ian Plummer, commercial director at Auto Trader, called the car-ban push back “a hugely retrograde step which puts politics ahead of net zero goals”.

The PM shifted position after thousands backed our calls to spare hard-working Brits from stumping up for expensive climate policies.

In June, the Sun launched a five-point plan to make net zero work — including a delay on the green ­targets and no new green taxes.

Labour, who suffered a backlash in the Uxbridge by-election over expansion of the Ulez £12.50-a-day charge for older cars, said they would “absolutely” reinstate the 2030 ban on new petrol cars.