ishi Sunak this week delivered a hasty press conference at Downing Street where he unveiled a bonfire of green regulation.
The move was roundly condemned by big business leaders, who complained that they had already poured oodles of cash into their net-zero plans, and desperately needed certainty from government. Those who didn’t comment may be quietly breathing a sigh of relief that they have more time to go green.
But whether Sunak’s looser approach to environmental goals proves a vote winner or not, it is diminishing his status on the world stage. Former US vice president Al Gore led international criticism of the new approach, blasting it as “shocking and really disappointing”. “This is not what the world needs from the United Kingdom,” he said.
The Prime Minister is just weeks away from hosting an AI safety summit with world leaders and bosses of big tech. In UK tech circles, there are hopes that the Government can achieve, if not a formal treaty, at least some kind of memorandum of understanding on AI regulation that will establish this country as a global leader.
But those hopes are fading following his press conference. As one summit attendee put it to me, why would countries trust anything the UK says on its AI commitments, if less than two years on from hosting COP, the Government is already rowing back on its green pledges?
Sunak’s chances of winning the election look slim. His hopes of leaving a legacy should be pinned on a breakthrough agreement at his AI safety summit. Such a deal would make the UK the world’s number one AI destination, and might even avert the catastrophe that experts warn could ensue if artificial general intelligence, the most powerful form of AI, is left to develop unchecked. But he may have now scuppered it all with his latest U-turn.