Lord Puttman and Tim Yeo: British politicians need the cross-party, long-term vision that made the Climate Act possible six years ago, if they are to stay the course on climate change
Tim Yeo: I doubt whether even the gloomiest Conservative would have feared in 1997 that two general elections later the party would still have fewer than 200 MPs.
The assertion that lightning never strikes in the same place twice may be doubted by the Conservative party. Four years and five weeks after its worst election defeat for a century it has suffered a second humiliation, leaving its supporters bewildered and its MPs facing a bleak future. Last Thursday fewer people voted Tory than at any election since universal adult suffrage was introduced. Even Michael Foot in 1983, burdened with a manifesto described as the longest suicide note in history, received more votes.
Watering down the Climate Act would be headline-chasing populism