Electric cars must make up fifth of sales next year, manufacturers told

Car makers will be forced to meet strict mandates on the sale of electric cars under plans announced by ministers.

From next year motor manufacturers must ensure that 22 per cent of their sales are electric vehicles (EV), a target industry experts believe will be hard to achieve. The mandate will rise to 28 per cent in 2025, 80 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent in 2035.

The boost for electric cars was only one measure in more than 2,800 pages of documents published by the government to show how it would deliver emissions cuts and energy security.

Branded “Powering up Britain”, the plan was described by Rishi Sunak as vital to “drive down energy prices”, “grow our economy” and reduce emissions to net zero by 2050. Ministers also committed to ban the sale of new pure petrol and diesel cars in 2030. Hybrid vehicles will be given a stay of execution until 2035 before their ban.

The long-awaited electric vehicle mandate was welcomed by the industry as providing clarity. Manufacturers had grown increasingly frustrated by delays to the announcement of the mandate, warning ministers that it would take time to adjust their supply chains and sales strategy.

In a sign that the government is aware of the challenges posed to car makers in meeting the mandate, the transport department said that the “proposal includes some additional flexibilities” from 2024 to 2026. The final consultation document said: “During that phase, manufacturers may borrow a limited number of ZEV [zero-emission vehicles] allowances from future periods if they are unable to achieve compliance from their own sales.” Manufacturers will also be able to “trade excess allowances freely at any price”.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: “Automotive is on track to deliver zero-emission motoring, so we welcome this long-awaited consultation on a watershed regulation for the UK new car and van market.

• Does this put Britain on course for net zero?

“While the proposals rightly reflect the sector’s diversity, late publication and lack of regulatory certainty make product planning near impossible, and the continued lack of clarity as to what technologies will be permitted beyond 2030 undermines attempts to secure investment.”

Industry bosses also raised concerns at the lack of an accompanying mandate on charging infrastructure, which remains the biggest barrier to people switching to an EV. The government announced £380 million towards improving the number of electric vehicle charge points but critics said that this was not new money, rather old commitments repackaged.

“The number of EVs on Britain’s roads is increasing, and while growing, the number of charging points simply cannot keep up,” Ian Plummer, commercial director at Auto Trader, said.

It came as the government’s net zero tsar warned that ministers’ refusal to bring forward a ban on new gas boiler sales would land households with higher energy bills. In an independent review of net zero goals ordered by Liz Truss when she was prime minister, the Tory MP Chris Skidmore called for the government’s 2035 ban on sales of gas boilers to be brought forward to 2033.

But Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, has refused to do so, with 2035 remaining the target.

“The framing of this as being somehow saving people money by keeping it 2035 is a false narrative,” Skidmore said. “It will cost people money by not moving forward to 2033.” The MP, a former science minister, said his review’s modelling had shown that a 2033 deadline would save people money, citing how the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales had triggered private sector investment since it was set in 2020. Having a goal within a ten-year time frame mobilised businesses, he said.

The government has also committed to rebalancing the costs of gas and electricity; the extension from 2025 to 2028 of a scheme to give households £5,000 grants for heat pumps; and a pledge of a new Great British Insulation Scheme to fund home energy efficiency.

Reaction to the plans was mixed. While the CBI said they represented “a gear shift”, RenewableUK, the industry group for wind power, said it did “not go far enough to attract the investment we need”. The think tank Green Alliance was unimpressed, saying the plan “doesn’t plot a route to net zero”.

Comment: Stop terrorising the young with climate doom

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned and reduce carbon emissions but hysterical fearmongering will only backfire, writes Ross Clark, author of Not Zero: How an Irrational Target Will Impoverish You, Help China (and Won’t Even Save the Planet).

Read in full

Does this put Britain on course for net zero?

After more than 2,800 pages, a blizzard of consultations and Grant Shapps’s mouthful about “powering Britain from Britain”, there’s just one question that matters. Is all this enough, asks Adam Vaughan.

Do today’s wide-ranging government plans put Britain back on track for its legally binding carbon targets in the 2030s, so the nation reaches net zero by 2050? Not quite, is the government’s own answer.

Read in full

Decision on raising pension age will wait until after election

The state pension age could still rise to 68 in the next decade, the work and pensions secretary said as he put off a decision on an increase until after the election.

Mel Stride said that in light of “a number of uncertainties” about life expectancy and the state of the economy, a decision on increasing the state pension would not be made before 2026.

The state pension age is 66 at present and Stride said there would be no change to a planned increase to 67 beginning in three years. But an official review by Baroness Neville-Rolfe today recommends a further increase to 68 between 2041 and 2043, ahead of the current legal date of 2044.

Ministers had previously signalled they wanted to bring forward the rise to 2037 tp 2039 because of rising life expectancy. But Stride said that “the rapid rises in life expectancy seen over the last century have slowed over the last decade” and that lives are now expected to lengthen “at a slower rate”.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former Cabinet Office minister, criticised Stride, saying: “Delaying the decision is a decision in itself and is not exactly a sign of strength.”

He pointed out that life expectancy had increased by seven years since the 1940s, “which would indicate a retirement age of 72 rather than of 67 or 68”.

Fifth of cars must be electric by next year

Car makers will be forced to ensure that 22 per cent of their UK sales next year are electric as part of the government’s plans to “power up” Britain (Ben Clatworthy writes).

Ministers set out the long-awaited “electric vehicle mandate” this morning, with a flurry of environmental policy announcements expected today.

• EU waters down its ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars

The mandate on electric car sales will rise to 28 per cent in 2025, 80 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent in 2035. Electric cars accounted for about 16.6 per cent of sales in 2022.

Grant Shapps, the energy security secretary, is due to announce Britain’s long-awaited climate change strategy today in what is being called the government’s “green day”.

Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, and Shapps have visited a laboratory run by the UK Atomic Energy Authority in Culham, Oxfordshire as part of the green day announcements.

The plan also involves support for carbon capture technology and offshore wind.

It stresses that the government has already announced £20 billion investment in carbon capture technology and backing for new projects, as well as £160 million for port infrastructure to help expand offshore wind.

New green hydrogen production projects also feature prominently alongside plans for the establishment of Great British Nuclear.

More than £380 million will go towards improving the number of electric vehicle charge points while Hunt will update the green finance strategy focused on attracting billions of investment.

Minister accuses doctors’ leaders of militancy

Steve Barclay has accused junior doctors’ leaders of being a “militant group” in an escalation of the war of words over the impending four-day strike (Chris Smyth writes).

The health secretary said the British Medical Association’s junior doctor committee had an “overt political agenda” as he again accused them of refusing to talk about pay unless promised a 35 per cent increase.

Answering an urgent question from Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, Barclay said that the impact of a 96-hour walkout after Easter would be “far greater” than previous strikes. “Not only because it lasts longer, but because it coincides with extended public holidays and Ramadan, with knock-on effects on services before and after the strike action itself, and because a significant proportion will already be on planned absence due to the holiday period,” he said.

• Senior doctors warn juniors of four-day strike’s impact• How much do junior doctors earn?

Talks between Barclay and junior doctors collapsed in acrimony last week with the doctors accusing the minister of lying over claims that they had set a precondition of a 35 per cent pay rise.

“I have checked the minutes, I have spoken this morning with officials to confirm before I made this statement to the House and it was a precondition of the talks,” Barclay said.

• Why this Easter’s doctors strike must be averted at all costs• The Times view on the April doctors’ strike

Accusing the doctors’ leadership of taking a “political militant stance”, he said: “I would draw an important distinction between what is a militant group that appear to have taken over the junior doctors committee and the vast majority of junior doctors who do a hugely important job within the NHS.”

He urged them to follow nurses and other unions in striking a pay deal, saying he recognised “the real pressures that junior doctors are facing, that’s why we stand ready to have meaningful and constructive talks”.

Voters are hungry for change, says Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer said that voters were “hungry for change” as he launched Labour’s local elections campaign (Henry Zeffman writes).

Addressing activists in Swindon, the Labour leader said: “Decline is not inevitable, the cost of living crisis is not inevitable, sticking plaster politics is not inevitable.”

As he unveiled Labour’s campaign slogan, Build a Better Britain, Starmer said: “These elections really, really matter. At the heart of these elections is a really simple question: do you believe that Britain deserves better.”

He said that Labour supporters had to send a message to Sunak and the Conservatives in May that their government was “not good enough, it is nowhere near good enough”.

Membership of free trading bloc ‘not a done deal’

Rishi Sunak has warned that “we’re not there yet” amid speculation that the UK is about to join one of the world’s largest free trading blocs (Oliver Wright writes).

Negotiations are understood to have concluded with ministers waiting for final approval from the 11 members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to accept UK membership.

Sunak welcomed “fanastic progress” in the negotiations but cautioned that the agreement was not yet formalised.

“Taking a step back, this is a great benefit of Brexit, our ability to go and sign exciting trade deals around the world,” he said. “If we are able to accede to the CPTPP trade deal, that will be a great opportunity for all our businesses to export to a massive and fast-growing market and again just demonstrates the government getting on with things that are going to make life better, create jobs across the country and deliver the benefits of Brexit.”

Members of the CPTPP had a joint GDP of £9 trillion in 2019. Trade experts said, however, that the economic advantages of joining the group would be limited given that the UK has free trade deals with most members of the CPTPP. These include Canada, Japan, Mexico and Singapore and Australia.

Overall the Department of Trade and Industry estimates that the membership would increase trade by only £3.3 billion annually.

PM promises guidance for schools on gender issues

Rishi Sunak said he was “very concerned” that schools were allowing children to switch gender without telling parents (Steven Swinford writes).

A report by Policy Exchange accused schools of accepting contested beliefs on gender identity and said that the practice of affirming “gender distress” has become embedded.

The prime minister said that the government would publish guidance shortly for schools on how to deal with children and gender issues.

Earlier, Grant Shapps told Times Radio that schools should focus on teaching children how to read and write.

Labour dismisses speculation about capital gains tax

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has distanced herself from claims that Labour is preparing to increase capital gains tax if it wins the next election.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, prompted speculation last week after she criticised Rishi Sunak, who made £5 million in three years, for paying a “far lower tax rate than working people”.

Capital gains tax is currently levied at 20 per cent on most assets, and there have been suggestions that it should be brought into line with income tax. The higher rate of income tax is 40 per cent, while the additional rate is 45 per cent.

Reeves told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t have any plans to increase capital gains tax. There are people who have built up their own businesses who maybe at retirement want to sell that business. They may not have had huge income throughout their life but this is their retirement pot of money.”

Schools ‘should focus on 3Rs, not gender’

Schools should focus on “real bread and butter issues” such as making sure people are able to read and write rather than children’s gender, the energy security secretary has said (Steven Swinford writes).

A report published today found that schools are routinely allowing children to switch gender and not telling their parents in a “mass breach” of safeguarding.

• Parents kept in dark about pupil gender switches• Rosie Duffield: Schools are failing in their duty to protect• Half of schools turn to outside agencies for sex education

The report condemns schools for uncritically accepting contested beliefs on gender identity and says the practice of affirming “gender distress” has become embedded.

Grant Shapps told Times Radio: “I just think what most parents want, myself included for my kids when they were at school, is a great education. And I think the more we can focus on the real bread and butter issues of making sure our kids leave school able to read, write, science and the rest of it I think all of that is where people are at.

“I know that the education secretary will be looking at all of this and I think will probably be looking to issue some additional guidance to schools to try to clear all this up. But I mean, I think the more we can focus on the education of our kids and not these other issues, the better it will be.”

Ofgem ‘wrong’ to threaten Times reporter

Grant Shapps, the energy security secretary, has said that Ofgem was wrong to threaten The Times and one of its journalists with criminal sanctions after they exposed how agents working for British Gas were routinely breaking into customers’ homes (Steven Swinford writes).

The watchdog has sent letters to the newspaper and Paul Morgan-Bentley, its head of investigations, threatening unlimited fines if they do not hand over all the reporter’s relevant materials, including confidential notes and undercover footage.

• Exposed: British Gas debt agents break into homes of vulnerable• Leading article: The Times will not hand over journalists’ notes

The Times is refusing to comply, claiming that the threats are unlawful, and has highlighted to Ofgem the importance of protecting journalistic material in a democratic society.

Shapps told Sky News: “The journalists in this country do an incredible job of exposing problems holding people like me and others to account. I will always be on the side of freedom of our press.

“Ofgem, who are a regulator, need to fix the problems that were uncovered and not be pursuing or threatening to pursue journalists who have uncovered these things.

“It is wrong for them to be pursuing the journalists. I would be very disappointed to see them progress that through the courts.

“The journalists are merely doing the job of uncovering something which absolutely should not be going on. I have cracked down very hard on that particular scandal to do with prepaid meters. I expect the regulator to do the same job.”

Homeowners given decades to replace gas boilers

Grant Shapps has said that homes will have decades to move from gas to cleaner forms of energy and insists that this is not a “rip out your boiler moment” (Steven Swinford writes).

He said that homes would transition over the next “decade or two”. He said he was getting a survey to see whether a heat pump would be suitable for his home.

• Ministers’ failures on replacing boilers ‘threaten net zero’• £20bn carbon capture pledge ‘is more than hot air’

The energy security secretary told Sky News: “We all know that electricity can be a big way to decarbonise, but we also know these are big changes. So this is not a sort of rip-out-your-boiler moment. This is a transition over a period of time to get to homes which are heated in a different way and also insulated much better.”

He said he was not an “eco-warrior” but that he had taken measures such as buying an electric car, fitting double glazing and reducing the flow of his boiler. He defended his hobby of flying planes, and said he wanted to see planes transition to low-carbon fuels.

Good morning

Welcome to The Times’s daily live politics coverage. The government is today unveiling its green energy plan, with carbon capture technology and boosts for offshore wind at the heart of its attempts to “power up Britain”.