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Labour would reinstate a 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars within months if it wins the next general election to restore “certainty” for the car industry, shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said.
The party would also impose new binding targets for councils and regional authorities to roll out charging points for electric vehicles to improve the patchy national network, Reynolds said in an interview with the Financial Times.
He said the Conservative government had left carmakers in limbo after delaying a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035 while insisting on steep increases of EV sales in the years beforehand.
“The Tory government has been undermining international investment by chopping and changing . . . the endless stop-start of government policy has left the British automotive industry stalled,” Reynolds said.
“Industry themselves want 2030, they’re absolutely clear on that, the SMMT [Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders] has been clear on that, the major vehicle producers in the UK have been clear on that.”
Reynolds will on Monday set out Labour’s new “plan for the automotive sector” in his speech to the party’s annual conference in Liverpool. It is the first of several sectoral plans that will underpin the party’s industrial strategy.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last month announced that the ban on the sale of new combustion engine cars and vans from 2030 would be moved to 2035 in what he described as a “new approach to achieving net zero”.
However, the “zero emission vehicle mandate”, due to come into force from January, sets a minimum proportion of EVs each manufacturer has to sell, starting with 22 per cent and rising each year to 80 per cent by 2030.
While some carmakers have welcomed the delay to 2035, it has also prompted concerns that consumers will be deterred from buying EVs.
The SMMT, which represents the UK automotive industry, warned of “confusion” for motorists.
Reynolds said a new Labour government would move quickly to reinstate the 2030 new sales ban in order to restore “certainty” to the industry.
Sunak has argued that delaying the ban would save households thousands of pounds without jeopardising Britain’s target to reach net zero by 2050.
But Reynolds said pushing back the phaseout would, ultimately, raise costs for families because EVs have cheaper lifetime costs than petrol cars, with their upfront price expected to fall over this decade.
Under the strategy, a Labour government would provide co-funding for new gigafactories for the UK to reach a target of 200GWh per year of supply of manufactured batteries for domestic car production.
Previously, Labour promised £2bn of co-investment for the fledgling industry but its pledge is now closer to £1.5bn. The adjustment reflected the fact that the Conservative government recently committed £500mn to support Jaguar Land Rover’s investment in a new gigafactory in Somerset.
Labour will pledge to cut planning approval times “from years to months” for “nationally significant infrastructure projects” in growth industries, including gigafactories.
The strategy includes guaranteeing a consistent policy environment, supporting research and development in EVs, and setting binding targets for the rollout of charging points.
Responsibility for delivering those targets would be devolved to regional and local authorities, while planning restrictions on new infrastructure would be loosened.
Labour will also pledge to back an expansion of the electric grid to support the new charging networks.
Reynolds said Labour would release and redirect existing funding, including the £950mn “rapid charging fund”, which was intended to boost motorway charging and was announced in 2020 but still has not been rolled out.
But Sir Keir Starmer’s party will not promise to announce a big programme of subsidies for electric car buyers, given how quickly take-up is expected to increase in the coming years.
“We haven’t put any specific promises on subsidies in our strategy, because if you think about the trajectory you would want sales to be on, you wouldn’t necessarily want to commit a certain amount of money now, that’s going to be market-responsive,” said Reynolds.
Purchase incentives for consumers buying EVs were wound down last year, though company car buyers still receive generous tax breaks.
Reynolds emphasised that people would still be able to buy second-hand petrol and diesel cars beyond 2030. “This is very much about the sale of new cars,” he said.
Labour would also introduce standardised battery “health tests” to give confidence to buyers of second-hand EVs.
Asked whether someone who bought a new petrol car in 2029 — or a second-hand one in 2031 — would still be able to drive it, Reynolds replied: “Yes. This is about the phaseout of new vehicles.”
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