It is madness for the Government to think aggressive tax rises and bullying are the route to unrealistic Net Zero

Boiler bullies

EVEN with a £5,000 grant, the £13,000 cost of installing a heat pump is too expensive for millions, no matter how much they want to cut carbon emissions.

So the Energy department’s half-witted plan to push up the price of cheaper and more efficient gas boilers, to force people to “go green”, will unfairly punish many.

In the same way, the price of electric cars, and the cost of “refuelling” them at inadequate public charging points, remains well beyond the reach of ­millions of motorists.

But the Government is proposing a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030.

Heat pumps — which we are meant to switch to by the middle of the next decade — are often unsuitable for a harsh British winter.

And the latest figures suggest greenhouse gas emissions involved in the production of an electric car are 70 per cent higher than for a petrol one.

It is madness for the Government to think aggressive tax rises and bullying are the route to an unrealistic Net Zero.

Soft touch UK

THE British have a long and proud history of welcoming asylum seekers.

But Borders Minister Robert Jenrick is right to suggest public compassion is being stretched by the migrants arriving by small boats across the Channel.

Never mind that the hotel bill for such migrants has already hit £7 million a day.

And that housing illegal immigrants is projected to cost up to £6 billion over two years, while taxpayers are struggling with a cost of living crisis.

How many people genuinely fleeing persecution and destitute are going to turn their noses up at having to share free central London hotel rooms while their applications are processed?

It’s a measure of this country’s growing reputation as a soft-touch that the Government is under fire for providing accommodation which is deemed not generous enough.

Good on union

IT is rare for The Sun to find common ground with the unions.

But even Keir Starmer’s supporters at the GMB are aghast at his vow to ban new North Sea gas and oil drilling.

The move comes after the party accepted a cash donation from Just Stop Oil’s chief bankroller, Dale Vince.

GMB General Secretary Gary Smith, has branded Starmer “naïve” and “wrong” for putting oil industry jobs — as well as Britain’s energy security — at risk.

Mr Smith recognises the eco-loons are nothing more than privileged middle-class virtue signallers.

How right he is.