Today [Monday 15th November] the Conservatives are announcing their plans to scrap burdensome regulations and red tape on car manufacturers.
The next Conservative Government will completely abolish the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, ending the legal requirements on manufacturers to sell a fixed and rising percentage of electric vehicles each year. This would remove a rigid regulatory burden on car manufacturers that has meant their investment decision are dictated by Government policy rather than consumer demand.
Kemi Badenoch. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
As well as removing this ZEV mandate, the Conservatives will also end the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars in its entirety – unlocking freedom of choice for manufacturers and consumers alike and prioritising economic growth over arbitrary regulations.
A future Conservative Government would also scrap all of the non-research & development subsidy programmes associated with the ZEV mandate. This would relieve manufacturers of more costly regulatory obligations and save the public finances £3.8 billion over the next decade. But we would retain infrastructure funding, as we support the continued development of the electric vehicle market.
The previous Conservative government recognised the immense pressure on the UK car industry when it delayed the ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035 in 2023. Since then, the market has continued to demonstrate that the rigid deadlines imposed by the government are out of sync with how quickly consumers are willing or able to switch to electric.
And Labour have moved sharply in the opposite direction. They reinstated the 2030 ban and confirmed that by 2035 every new car must be fully zero-emission. Their model relies heavily on subsidy, preferential tax treatment, and tight regulation to force both consumers and the car industry down a dead-end road.
These schemes were designed to force consumer behaviour rather than fuel genuine innovation, but would have serious knock on consequences – with the OBR estimating that the fall in Fuel Duty, Vehicle Excise Duty, and similar climate-related revenues could reach £803 billion by 2050-51, with fuel duty alone falling by around £15.5 billion a year as petrol cars disappear from the roads.
So, by allowing for a market demand-based transition, there would also be far less immediate pressure on the public finances.
As Business Secretary, Kemi Badenoch attracted £20 billion of auto investment in 2023 – more investment into the UK car industry in one year in the job, than her predecessors did in seven years. These included TATA investing £4 billion in a new UK gigafactory in Somerset; BMW committing £600 million to build EV Minis in Oxfordshire; Stellantis investing £100 million in Ellesmere Port; and Nissan putting £2 billion into its Sunderland plant.
But Labour’s ideological adherence to the EV transition is having disastrous consequences for the UK car industry. Last year, Stellantis closed the Vauxhall Luton car plant, putting 1,100 jobs at risk, saying the ZEV mandate had partly driven its decision. Ford cut 800 UK jobs, blaming weak demand for electric cars. And the £600 million investment from BMW in its Oxford Mini plant secured by Kemi Badenoch in 2023 has now been put on hold.
The ZEV mandate only exists because of the Climate Change Act and its 2050 net zero duty.
Kemi Badenoch has already made clear that while the Conservatives support measures that genuinely help tackle climate change and preserve the environment, she has said Net Zero by 2050 is impossible. We have set out a series of common-sense policies that allow us to continue to protect the environment without subjecting our economy to arbitrary and self-imposed economic suicide.
This includes ending all the burdensome mandates on North Sea Oil & Gas, repealing the Climate Change Act, and ending green levies like the Carbon Tax and Renewable Obligations Certificate to deliver 20% off electricity bills for consumers through our Cheap Power Plan.
Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Conservative Party, said: “Labour’s rush to Net Zero is having a disastrous effect on the UK car industry.
“The Conservatives will ensure that we protect the environment, but we will do so without forcing families to bear the brunt of the costs, and forcing car makers to meet deadlines that don’t reflect consumer demand.
“By scrapping the ZEV mandate and the ban on petrol cars we are putting fairness and common sense back into the system and saving money for taxpayers. Britain succeeds when we back business and support innovation – that’s our plan for a stronger economy.”
Richard Holden MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, said: “Britain produces fantastic cars. But Labour’s ideological decision to bring forward the mandate banning new petrol and diesels is hitting manufacturers at the worst possible moment.
“Costs are up, demand is down, and yet Labour is still accelerating towards targets that bear no relation to what people are choosing to buy. Labour’s policy slams the brakes on British industry while leaving the path open for foreign firms to overtake them without facing the same rules or penalties.
“Scrapping the mandate and the billions in associated taxpayer subsidies will put Britain in pole position to respond to the market at a pace consumers are willing to move at.”
Edmund King OBE, AA president, said: “The AA’s Motoring Manifesto* stated that climate change is a critical global challenge in which transport plays a vital part. Our members recognise the need to reduce emissions and improve air quality but are uncertain about how far and how fast they can change without the right support in place.
“So, it’s vital that information campaigns and incentives are put in place to facilitate this switch. The AA supported the original zero emission new car sales deadline of 2030 as ‘challenging but ambitious’. Reintroducing the 2030 deadline enabled us to maintain momentum on the net zero transition and improve our chances of delivering the UK’s net zero ambition. But drivers need to be supported with the right incentives, and reassured that we’ve made significant progress on infrastructure, to make the shift possible.
“Consumers and industry need certainty and long-term targets and incentives to help transform to a zero-emission future. Climate change is a real threat, so it is right that the targets are ‘challenging and ambitious’ and any further diluting of targets is likely to backfire.”
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “Even in a fragile market, zero emission vehicle uptake continues to rise, which is exactly what we need.
“But the weakest growth for almost two years – ahead of Government announcing a new tax on EVs (electric vehicles) – should be seen as a wake-up call that sustained increase in demand for EVs cannot be taken for granted.”
*https://www.theaa.com/about-us/newsroom/aa-motoring-manifesto-2024
