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target is not legally binding but Britain
regards the tougher measures as
critical before it hosts Cop26, the
international climate change talks, in
Glasgow next November. Joe Biden,
the US president-elect, has promised to
take a leading role on the issue.
Mr Johnson told the Commons
yesterday: “I am proud that the UK led
the way in instituting a target of net
zero by 2050. We are looking at our
nationally determined contribution,
which will be extremely ambitious.”
The government is preparing to
bring forward plans to ban gas boilers in
new homes from 2025 to 2023. Con-
cerns have been raised about the ability
to increase the production of alterna-
tives such as heat pumps and hydrogen
boilers.
The ten-point plan signalled that re-
placement gas boilers would be phased
out by 2035, although they could be re-
placed with a “hydrogen-ready” boiler
that would initially burn natural gas
and switch to hydrogen when it became
available.
Replacing gas boilers will have
significant costs. A typical heat pump,
which draws heat from the ground,
costs between £7,000 and £19,000.
The World Meteorological Organi-
sation, which is part of the United
Nations, said yesterday that this year
was expected to be one of the hottest on
record.begin with staff on the first day of vacci-
nation early next week, with some
over-80s and patients living in care
homes who are already due to attend
hospital to receive a jab in the days that
follow. That could yet change.
Sir Simon said that “typically there
may be people who were already down
to come into hospital next week for an
outpatient appointment. So if you’re
going to be one of those people next
week or in the weeks that follow the
hospital will get in touch with you.”
Two doses of the vaccine are required
three weeks apart, meaning that people
will have to return to hospital for the
second dose. The first tranche will beRishi Sunak has warned that the huge
levels of debt built up as part of the fight
against coronavirus could become
unaffordable if there is a sudden rise in
interest rates.
The Treasury is likely to borrow
£370 billion this year, more than double
the £158 billion deficit in the peak year
of the financial crisis. It has taken debt
to close to 100 per cent of GDP for the
first time since the 1960s.
In an interview with John Pienaar on
Times Radio, the chancellor said that
while interest rates were “exceptionally
low” the debt was affordable.
“But that could change,” he said. “I
think no one has a perfect crystal ball
about which way interest rates and in-
flation will move. And obviously, we’re
much more sensitive to changes in
those rates. And if they moved against
us, that’s problematic. So we have to
keep an eye on that. And... you know
that our economy has taken a medium-
term hit from all of this, and that’s what
throws our day-to-day borrowing out
of whack.”
His comments will be seen as a tacit
warning to Boris Johnson, who hasSunak warns of ‘unaffordable’
debt as borrowing set to double
Steven Swinford Deputy Political Editor backed high spending and opposed tax
rises. In an interview with The Sunday
Times this month Mr Sunak joked that
he would like to take away the prime
minister’s credit card.
Mr Johnson has said that the Con-
servatives will retain their tax triple
lock, a manifesto pledge that they will
not raise income tax, VAT or national
insurance, leaving Mr Sunak with
limited fiscal room for manoeuvre.
The Treasury has drawn up plans to
cut pensions tax relief for high earners,
increase capital gains tax and introduce
a digital sales tax for online retailers.
Asked whether pension tax relief is
fair as higher-rate taxpayers benefit
from greater relief than lower earners,
Mr Sunak said: “I think I would always
say judge by actions, and people will see
how we, as a government, and I have
acted through this crisis.
“We’ve always looked to provide
support to the British people, be cogni-
sant of those who are most vulnerable
in our society and also do the things to
support business and free enterprise,
because we understand how important
that is to our future prosperity.
“Those are all the kind of principles
that are important to me, and they willflow through whatever we do.” Asked if
people should go out and “shop for Brit-
ain”, Mr Sunak said: “Christmas is the
time for it. We’ve obviously made some
changes, to allow stores to open for
longer to help just space things out.
“But the important thing is these
stores have worked really hard, every-
one will see it up and down their high
streets. They’re seeing the efforts that
companies have gone to to make sure
their premises are safe.”
Mr Sunak said that although he was
hopeful of a Brexit deal, he remained
“confident” that the UK can succeed
without one. “I remain very confident
about our future as a country and our
ability to take advantage of the oppor-
tunities that will flow to us. I think with
a spirit of constructive attitude and
goodwill on all sides, we can get there.
And you know, I’m working hard at it
and the team are working very hard.
“We’ve been very transparent and
consistent throughout this process
about what we need. And those asks are
things that the EU has largely already
agreed with lots of other countries. So
we don’t think we’re asking for things
that are unprecedented. And hopefully
we can reach a positive conclusion.”continued from page 1
Emissions targetenough for 400,000 people. Sir Simon
said that the timing of the doses “means
that the people who are getting the first
dose in December will not have the full
protection from the vaccine until they
get the second dose in January”.
He said that hospital distribution
would be followed “in subsequent
weeks” by the setting up of more than
1,000 GP-led local vaccination centres.
Mass vaccination centres in sports
stadiums and Nightingale hospitals will
follow next year.
Professor Van-Tam rejected sugges-
tions that doses should get to care
homes faster. “As soon as it is legally
and technically possible to get the vac-
cine into care homes we will do so,” he
said. “This is a complex product with a
very fragile culture — it’s not a yoghurtthat can be taken out of the fridge and
put back in multiple times.”
Martin Green, chief executive of the
industry body Care England, said: “It is
unfortunate that we have announce-
ments before the delivery chain is sort-
ed out. This leads to confusion.” He also
urged regulators to approve more easi-
ly stored vaccines as soon as possible.
Professor Van-Tam urged people to
accept the vaccine when they were of-
fered it. “Everyone wants social dis-
tancing to come to an end, we’re fed up
with it,” he said. “But if you want that
dream to come true as quickly as it can
then you have to take the vaccine when
it’s offered to you.”
Coronavirus latest, pages 8-
Government must rise to challenge,
leading article, page 37continued from page 1
Vaccinations to start next weekAnalysis
D
ecarbonising
Britain’s
housing
stock
presents one of the
biggest challenges to
hitting climate targets
(Emily Gosden
writes). About 80 per
cent of homes are
heated by boilers that
burn natural gas,
emitting carbon
dioxide that causes
global warming.
Home heating
accounts for about 14
per cent of total UK
emissions.
The Climate
Change Committee
has said that buildings
need to be fully
decarbonised by 2050
and that progress so
far has been too slow.
But there is no easy or
cheap solution for
replacing gas: the
CCC estimates that
switching over to
low-carbon heating
will cost about
£15 billion a year.
One option is toswitch to fully electric
heating systems such
as heat pumps, which
draw heat from the
environment, like a
refrigerator in
reverse. However,
these may struggle to
provide enough heat
to keep some homes
warm in winter and
there are concerns
over the costs of
producing and
transporting enough
green electricity to
meet peak demand.
Another option is to
replace existing
boilers with ones that
burn hydrogen, which
does not emit carbon
dioxide, and could
potentially be
transported using
existing gas pipelines.
A world-first trial of
using pure hydrogen
for home heating and
cooking is planned for
300 homes in Fife by
late 2022. However,
producing hydrogen
cleanly remains
expensive and theCCC has said that
switching all heating
to hydrogen may be
impractical, in part
because of the
difficulty producing
enough of it cheaply.
One answer may be
“hybrid” systems,
which combine a heat
pump to meet the
bulk of demand with a
boiler burning
hydrogen or natural
gas to help meet peak
demand in winter.
So far the
government is
hedging its bets: in a
green strategy last
month it set an aim of
600,000 heat pump
installations per year
by 2028, up from only
30,000 last year, and
also to heat tens of
thousands of homes in
a “hydrogen town” by- It said it was
leaving open “the
choice as to whether
we pursue hydrogen
heating, an electrified
heating system, or a
mixture of both”.
Wandering deer
shot in gardens
The prospective
opening of England’s
fifth national RHS
garden in Salford has
been overshadowed by
a decision to shoot
nine roe deer that had
escaped from their
enclosure. The RHS
has apologised. Page 19
Staff at Eton
‘fear the sack’
An Eton master said
staff members with
“unorthodox views”
feared being next in
the firing line and that
students were being
indoctrinated by the
college after a teacher
was sacked for a video
on patriarchy. Page 23STILL DIVISIVE
Plans for statue of
Thatcher could go
to a town vote
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PA G E 6 8Trump urged to
pardon himself
President Trump is
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