Responding to this ‘mea culpa,’ Mike Foster, CEO of EUA, said:

“Boris Johnson has come clean on a major mistake he made as Prime Minister.  In his haste to achieve net zero, he declared that 600,000 heat pumps a year must be fitted in UK homes by 2028.  This random target spawned the policy known as the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, which consequently led to the UK’s boiler tax.

“Without this target, officials would not have created a scheme that penalises British boiler manufacturers if consumers do not respond to Johnson’s target and buy heat pumps.

 “Now, thanks to Boris Johnson and the previous government, we have a scheme that fines British businesses if consumers continue to buy British built boilers rather than Chinese imported heat pumps.

 “These fines are huge, running into the tens of millions of pounds, which are then passed onto consumers in the form of a hidden boiler tax.  It currently stands at around £25 a boiler, rising to over £40 next year.  Who knows how high after that.

 “At a time of distress, when a boiler needs replacing, consumers must now pay extra just to keep warm.  This could and should all end.  The official opposition, who introduced the policy, have now said it was wrong to do so.  The former Prime Minister has walked away from his own target for heat pumps.  It is now time for the current government to scrap this flawed policy once and for all.

 “The industry was assured no fines would be levied because of the policy, which has turned out to be a lie.  As things stand, British firms, all in constituencies represented by Labour MPs, will pay fines running into the tens of millions because Ed Miliband won’t scrap this Boris Johnson legacy.  One and a half million households will pay the boiler tax this year.”