Ban on oil boilers is a 'rual Ulez', former environment secretary warns

George Eustice compared the move to the Ulez car ban in London which has seen the city’s mayor come under criticism.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said that 1.7 million rural homes will be affected by the oil boiler ban and the plans to introduce air-source heat-pumps by 2026.

He argued that this will cost families four times more than a new boiler, and suggested that the Government should look to expand the supply of renewable liquid fuels.

“For just a couple of hundred pounds, an existing kerosene boiler can be converted to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil made from waste cooking oil or vegetable waste. Facilitating that switch would reduce carbon emissions by 88 per cent far faster than the current approach could and at a fraction of the cost,” he said.

Mr Eustice urged ministers to take a different approach to Net Zero rather than locking in current technologies as mandatory.

“To pick winners today is to shut down all the other innovation taking place and the Prime Minister is right to push back. Rural communities are about to have their own version of London’s ultra-low emission zone dumped on them,” he said.

During the energy crisis last year, the Government was urged to do more to help rural families like those in areas of North Yorkshire was are “off-grid” and so rely on non-standard sources of heating.

Analysis by the Telegraph suggested that nearly half of Conservative seats have a higher than average number of off-grid homes.

More than a dozen Tory MPs are reportedly backing his amendment to the Energy Bill and that around 30 colleagues have written to Rishi Sunak to raise the issue.

The Energy Bill is also set to see a Tory rebellion over onshore wind farms, with Alok Sharma leading an amendment seeking to tie ministers to a commitment to drop the de-facto ban on onshore turbines.

It comes after Therese Coffey, the Environment Secretary, said on Sunday that abandoning green policies could cost the Conservatives the next general election.

She said the party must show it cares about the environment in order to win, but cautioned it must not be in a way that “burdens” the public.