Commenting on reports that the cabinet secretary will decide this week to lower the sales targets for electric vehicles set by the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, Mike Davis CEO of Green Alliance said:

“Ministers are asking the world to believe in their climate leadership at COP while quietly discarding it at home. In the past month, the government has approved the Jackdaw gas field and cut funding of heat pumps. Now it is threatening the single biggest climate policy we have.

Donald Trump’s tariffs and high gas prices driving up power costs are what’s hurting UK carmakers, not the ZEV mandate’s requirement to sell more EVs.

The UK is already behind other countries on production of EVs, yet the government is bowing to the pressure of a small number of laggard companies. Rather than tackling the real issues affecting a few manufacturers, ramping up charging and supporting a wider range households to access new EVs, the government is punishing drivers by keeping them hostage to volatile fossil fuels for longer.

Andy Burnham has failed a series of recent tests on protecting the British public from climate breakdown. Gutting the ZEV mandate would make his government the worst on climate in over a decade.”