It was the same with other green initiatives. “It feels like you cannot underestimate this government’s ability to balls up good ideas,” says Lucas.
About Boris Johnson, she is scathing. “He’s an absolute disaster as a prime minister. He doesn’t do what is right, he does what he thinks is popular.” On the Covid-19 crisis, “It has been so apparent that he waits until the last moment to act. He is utterly indecisive, doesn’t want to be unpopular and doesn’t want to take leadership. And, as a result, Britain has had one of the worst total death rates in the western world.”
It also makes Johnson, Lucas believes, “uniquely ill-equipped to deal with a crisis like climate change, where you need public trust. At a time of crisis, whether that’s Covid or climate, you need leaders who have integrity, consistency and courage. And those are three words I would not associate with Boris Johnson.”