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Rishi Sunak faces ‘boiler tax’ rebellion
Tory backbenchers mobilise against plans to penalise boiler makers that do not meet heat pump installation targets
Nick Gutteridge, WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT20 December 2023 • 1:27pm

Rishi Sunak is facing another major Tory rebellion over his plans to introduce a
net zero “boiler tax” to railroad through the switch to heat pumps.
Conservative backbenchers are mobilising to oppose the proposals when they come before the Commons for a crunch vote in the new year.
The Prime Minister is pressing ahead with plans to fine boiler makers who do not meet heat pump installation targets from April.
Manufacturers have responded to the proposals by increasing their prices, raising them by up to £120 to offset the cost of the
heat pump rollout.
However, the penalties require legislation to enforce, meaning Mr Sunak faces a showdown with MPs who are unhappy with the cost to consumers.
The Telegraph has been told the
Net Zero Scrutiny Group, which consists of 50 Tory backbenchers, is mobilising to vote against the plans.
Craig Mackinlay, the influential group’s chairman, said: “The Government’s planned new boiler tax is another blow to hardworking families.
“If heat pumps are as good as ministers are claiming then why do they feel the need to mandate them?
“I urge the Prime Minister to remember his speech from back in September and deliver on his promise to protect families from the cost of net zero. He must scrap this tax.”
Ministers need to pass a Statutory Instrument through the Commons early next year to provide the legal powers to enforce heat pump quotas.
‘Green mania will increase inflation’
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former energy secretary, said: “Once again the green mania will increase inflation and lower living standards.
“It is wrong to tax boilers. If heat pumps are expensive and inefficient people should not be coerced into buying them.”
Sir John Redwood, a former Cabinet minister, said that if MPs saw an opportunity to vote against the proposals “we’ll obviously take it”.
He branded the plan “a disgrace”, adding: “It will mean higher prices for gas boilers for the many who still want them and will not necessarily sell more heat pumps.”
Under the scheme boiler manufacturers will have to ensure that 4pc of their sales are made up of heat pumps next year, rising to 6pc in 2025-26.
They will be fined £3,000 for every unit that they miss their target by.

Boiler manufacturers will have to ensure that 4pc of their sales are made up of heat pumps next year, rising to 6pc in 2025-26
Labour is poised to support the measures, known as the
Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM), meaning Mr Sunak is not in danger of an embarrassing defeat.
But a sizeable mutiny would leave him once again in the embarrassing position of having to rely on the opposition to pass a flagship piece of Net Zero law.
The Prime Minister suffered one of the biggest rebellions of his premiership earlier this month as dozens of Tory MPs opposed similar targets for car makers.
Senior figures including Suella Braverman and Dame Priti Patel, both former home secretaries, voted against quotas for electric vehicle sales.
In total 26 of Mr Sunak’s own MPs opposed the plans, meaning that they would have been defeated had it not been for Labour’s support.
Backbenchers have accused the Prime Minister of effectively reneging on a promise he made in September to scale back the cost of Net Zero.
He gave a major speech from Downing Street
which he hailed as a change of course on green targets to reduce the hit to family finances.
Boiler manufacturers hike prices
“I’m confident that we can adopt a more pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach to meeting Net Zero that eases the burdens on working people,” he said.
After ministers confirmed that they were pressing ahead with the CHMM, boiler manufacturers responded by hiking their prices.
Worcester Bosch announced the price of all its gas boilers will increase by £120 in the new year, while Vaillant is preparing to charge £95 more.
Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, accused the firms of “price gouging” and said there was no evidence they would not be able to hit their heat pump targets.
She told LBC: “We think it’s extremely unlikely that anybody will be fined. It’s something I’m going to look at very carefully and I’ll talk to anyone who I think is passing on unfair cost to the consumer.”
