Labour confirms it will revert ban on petrol and diesel-powered car sales to 2030, if elected
March 15, 2024 by John Rawlings
Car changing is a big deal
Last year, the prime minister announced the government was postponing the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel-powered cars from 2030 to 2035, but Labour says, if elected, it will change it back to 2030.
At a conference in London yesterday, Bill Esterson MP, the Shadow Minister for Transport (Roads) confirmed that, if elected, the Labour party will bring the deadline for the ban of the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered cars back to 2030.
Last September, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, postponed the deadline from 2030 to 2035 as part of “a new approach to achieving net zero”. He said the original ban would: “impose unacceptable costs on hard-pressed British families”, and that the government could “adopt a more pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach to meeting net zero which eases the burden on working people”.
The 2030 deadline had been introduced in 2020 to stimulate the transition to electric vehicles in order for the UK to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Ford UK criticised the date being postponed and released a statement urging the government to re-think this decision, saying: “This is the biggest industry transformation in over a century and the UK 2030 target is a vital catalyst to accelerate Ford into a cleaner future. Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and consistency. A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.”
Bill Esterson MP was speaking at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Connected 2024 conference on the latest innovations and developments in connected and automated vehicle technology. This included a keynote speech by Secretary of State for Transport, The Rt Hon Mark Harper MP. When asked about the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), he said it was “how we decarbonise the transport sector” and that the government was “working at pace with the chargepoint sector”, “getting the barriers out the way to speed up the process” and “doing everything to increase consumer confidence” in EVs.
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