PlanetSTORY FILE
Tories overstate net zero cost by nearly £500bn in apparent spreadsheet error
<p>Exclusive: Badenoch’s flagship conference policy document cites £957bn estimate, twice the total in climate advisers’ data</p><p>Kemi Badenoch’s flagship party conference policy document overestimated the cost of net zero by nearly £500bn, seemingly after someone accidentally double-counted figures on a spreadsheet.</p><p>The apparent error appears in a chapter on net zero in <a href="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6760307b23436bea5cfc749e/6abe82ddb8322e0cfd6d31e5_f62154aa693cdddcbbac38806b158324_The%20Right%20Way.pdf">The Right Way</a>, a 100-page policy document produced for the Conservative conference in Birmingham. Badenoch repeatedly used the phrase in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/07/tories-prioritising-rich-voters-inheritance-tax-cut-badenoch-conference-speech">her main speech</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/09/tories-overstate-net-zero-cost-500bn-spreadsheet-error">Continue reading...</a>
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