Rishi Sunak is being urged to scrap a net zero ban on new oil boilers, with senior Tories warning it will cost votes in rural communities.

New oil boilers will be banned in off-grid homes within three years, with households encouraged to switch to heat pumps under government proposals to help cut heating emissions.

George Eustice, who was environment secretary in Boris Johnson’s government, is now calling for the ban to be dropped – describing the policy as “a Ulez for rural communities”.

The ban will affect 1.7 million mostly rural households that are not connected to the gas grid and would come in at least a decade before similar restrictions on other homes.

Mr Eustice believes that instead of banning the boilers, owners should be encouraged to use environmentally-friendly fuel. 

He has drafted an amendment to the Energy Bill, which is understood to have the backing of at least a dozen Tory MPs, introducing effective subsidies on such oil.

More than 30 Tory MPs have already written to the Prime Minister to raise the issue, amid concern it could disproportionately affect rural Conservative communities.

Writing for The Telegraph, Mr Eustice said: “Rural communities are about to have their own version of the Ulez dumped on them.”

He told The Telegraph: “They should call off the ban on the sale of boilers and pursue a different strategy which would be to properly incentivise renewable fuels in those boilers.”

Nearly half of Tory constituencies have higher than average numbers of off-grid households, according to Telegraph analysis.

It comes as net zero has emerged as a key battleground for both the Conservatives and Labour ahead of the next election.

Last month, the Tories won a by-election in Uxbridge, west London, which was considered a de facto referendum on the expansion of the capital’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez).

The daily charge for higher-polluting cars has been criticised as a tax on poorer households unable to switch to newer and cleaner models.

The Energy Bill is expected to return to Parliament for final sign-off in the autumn. Green and fuel poverty groups also back a delayed introduction of the ban and more support for households to make the switch.

The Government is backing heat pumps as the main alternative to oil, gas and coal boilers, in a bid to cut the 14 per cent of the UK’s emissions that come from home heating.