“Urgent call for MPs to stop major tax grab by people-mugging government”

Government’s Net Zero obsession set to cost us billions more unless MPs act now

Exclusive revelations on what’s going to hit us after secret talks with the EU

If a government set out to destroy some industries, severely damage others, halt growth, and de-industrialise its country while at the same time putting up consumer prices, you would be hard-pressed to come up with two schemes more likely to achieve these objectives than those we are about to describe.

New net zero talks said to have started with EU last week – No word from the Government

Originally we were concerned about the Government’s plans, announced in December, to introduce its new CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) on 01 January next year.  As we explain in more detail below, this involves taxing certain products imported from overseas which have a high carbon content in their production.

This has pluses and minuses, the minus being that some imported goods will suddenly cost a lot more, pushing up prices in the UK.

Then, we learnt from Brussels – but NOT from No.10 or from Ed Miliband – that talks were planned to have started last week to align the UK with the two types of Net Zero taxation. This information comes from none other that the EU’s Commissar for these things – the Ed Miliband of Brussels. He is a Dutchman by the name of Wopke Hoekstra, and is seemingly a paid-up member of the globalist movement.

He went on to tell his interviewer that he was ready to have “speedy” talks. This ties in with the fact that the EU introduced their own CBAM (tariff border for carbon) on 01 January this year. The EU’s CBAM applies tariffs onto goods imported into the EU, including those from the UK.

What did the UK Government say about this?

After interviewing Mijneer Hoekstra, it’s not surprising that Reuters contacted the Government.
Apparently a UK government spokesperson “declined to comment on when negotiations would launch”.

All they would say was:
“We are delivering on our commitment to secure a carbon linking agreement with the EU as soon as possible.”

How the UK compares with the EU, on average

It is important to state up front that it is very difficult to find accurate comparisons of carbon taxing of all kinds between countries. This is because the whole area is complex, with levies being applied in different ways, on different products, and also because of the problems of measuring emissions involved in producing goods.

Below we show one such comparison, produced by the OECD late last year in an authoritative report. The OECD produces this report every two years, and we have extracted the information below from that.

Net Zero versus the state of the economy, the cost of living crisis, and common sense

Both the Official Opposition, (the Conservatives), and the Party leading in the polls, (Reform UK), have made statements saying that although it is desirable to reduce pollution, the economic circumstances dictate it is highly desirable to row back on Net Zero commitments. This is falling on deaf ears in the Government.

Facts4EU has analysed the latest figures from Ed Miliband’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and can bring GB News readers the following, shocking charts. They show the huge increases in real terms in:

1. The cost of electricity for households, and
2. The cost of the electricity fuel price for the industrial sector

These have occurred in the 10 years since the 2015 Paris Accords. We must stress that these increases are stated after the effect of inflation and are real terms increases.

A man who has been consistent on this

Here is a man who has been wholly consistent for a very considerable time on the threats to the fabric of the United Kingdom economy represented by Net Zero plans. We asked him to explain what these charts really show.

The rationale behind taxing imported, high carbon products

There is of course a rationale involved in taxing imported concrete, for example. If British concrete is having taxes applied to it under this Governments ‘Emissions Trading Scheme’ (ETS), then imported products should have to have similar taxes (or tariffs) applied to them, in order to create a fair, competitive market.

The question is whether British industry should have to face taxes generated in the UK, when it is already struggling with the excessively high costs of energy it requires.

Guess who was the first to come up with all this on the world stage?

Yes, the EU led the World on this. According to the World Bank and the EU itself, the EU was the first to introduce both systems. The EU’s first ETS was in 2005 and the first version of its CBAM on 01 Oct 2023, with its Regulation 2023/956. The EU’s CBAM (for imports) has now been enlarged and this latest launch took place on 01 Jan 2026, at the start of this year.

Ever since these schemes were first launched, more and more products and raw materials have become more expensive, by virtue of industry and commerce having to pay these taxes on an increasing range of products.

Finally, a Quick Facts4EU Explainer – all you need to know in under 30 seconds

An Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is a tax on businesses that generate greenhouse gases (GHG). They can trade these on a market, to ‘offset’ their emissions, or pay the full tax. This alone can be ruinous for some sectors.

A Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a tax on imports, to account for the GHG involved in producing the goods being imported. The idea is to put foreign companies’ prices on the same basis as home producers. It does of course increase consumer prices for otherwise cheaper products.

Both the ETS and the CBAM are supposed to encourage lower emissions while taking the tax to help pay for the almost ruinous costs of ‘the green transition’, i.e. the massive subsidies Ed Miliband is paying for wind and solar farms.

Main image: montage © Stand for Our Sovereignty 2025