Exclusive:Russell Findlay claims SNP should review net zero target to avoid 'economic sabotage'

Russell Findlay has suggested the Scottish Government should review its flagship 2045 net zero target - as the Scottish Conservative leader backed Kemi Badenoch’s controversial policy change.

Mr Findlay, who voted alongside his party colleagues in November for legislation that keeps the 2045 target in place, told The Scotsman that the UK Tory leader’s U-turn over net zero was “a refreshing outbreak of honesty”.

UK Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay | Getty Images

He also called on SNP ministers to “come clean with the public” and stop “pretending that it's reasonable” to achieve the aim on time, which would end Scotland’s contribution to the climate crisis.

Ms Badenoch has claimed that net zero is “impossible” to achieve by 2050 - the UK-wide legal target, adding that it could not be reached without “bankrupting the country”.

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The Conservative UK government put the net zero target into law in 2019 under Theresa May. Andrew Bowie, Ms Badenoch’s shadow Scottish secretary, was Ms May’s parliamentary private secretary when the net zero target was brought forward.

Keir Starmer’s Labour government has embraced the net zero strategy, while reaching net zero is one of John Swinney’s four government priorities.

The Scottish and UK governments are pursuing net zero by the middle of the century. PIC: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire

When Scotland’s 2045 net zero target was agreed by MSPs in 2019, 28 Conservative MSPs including 16 of Mr Findlay’s current group backed the legislation under the leadership of Ruth Davidson.

Asked by The Scotsman whether he agreed with Ms Badenoch’s net zero U-turn, Mr Findlay said: “It sounds to me like a refreshing outbreak of honesty with the paying public.

“These targets, where they're not realistic, why would it be in any way sensible or defensible to continue to pretend that they are?

“We must have a just transition but ultimately it cannot be one that comes at huge cost to billpayers, to taxpayers and to business.

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“We cannot commit economic sabotage on our own country to meet a target that's not realistic.”

Pressed over whether the Scottish Government should scrap its 2045 net zero target, the Scottish Conservative leader added: “I think they need to look at this honestly, as Kemi has done, and come clean with the public.

“We all want the same thing, but it has to be done in a sensible and pragmatic way.

“Where it's unrealistic, we cannot keep pretending that it's reasonable.”

The move by Mr Findlay will be viewed as another policy aimed at clawing back support from voters who have abandoned the Scottish Tories for Reform.

During a shambolic visit to Glasgow earlier this month, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice repeatedly warned against what he called “net stupid zero” and told The Scotsman opposing the strategy would be a key party of his party’s push for votes at the 2026 Holyrood election.

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice in Glasgow | Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Scottish Labour net zero spokesperson, Sarah Boyack, said that the “clueless comments” from Mr Findlay “show the Scottish Tories have given up on serious politics”.

She added: “Whether he’s suggesting we send 14 year olds to work or insisting we should ignore climate change, Russell Findlay is just on the hunt for attention.

“The SNP is failing to deliver on the environment and the Tories seem to think we shouldn’t even bother trying – but Labour will unlock Scotland’s potential as a world-leader in green jobs.”

Scottish Greens co-leader, Patrick Harvie said that Scotland’s stuttering net zero progress meant “the only credible response is to speed up, not slow down”.

Patrick Harvie | Andrew Milligan/Press Association

He added: “Far from an outbreak of honesty, the Tory position is fundamentally dishonest and will put both our environment and our economy at increased risk.”

SNP acting net zero secretary, Gillian Martin, said: “The Scottish Government’s is committed to ending our contribution to global emissions by 2045 at the latest, as agreed by parliament on a cross-party basis.

“This developing political debate which pushes back against the very idea of a climate crisis and the need to act, flies in the face of the science and rejects the reality we see unfolding before us.”