Tories could scrap Britain's electric vehicle targets as part of Net Zero rethink saying they want 'consumer choice not diktats'

By GREG HEFFER, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE

The Tories could scrap Britain's electric vehicle targets in order to promote 'consumer choice' over 'diktats' in the UK's car market.

Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, will warn against the danger of 'state intervention' in the automotive sector in a speech to an industry conference today.

Under current plans, UK car manufacturers must sell a certain percentage of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) each year.

This percentage is due to increase over time until 100 per cent is reached in 2035, which is when all new cars and vans sold in Britain must be fully zero emission.

For example, under the ZEV mandate, 28 per cent of new car sales this year must be zero emission. This will rise to 80 per cent in 2030.

Firms have said the ZEV mandate is putting jobs and investment at risk in the UK, amid hesitancy among Britons about making the transition to electric cars.

Labour relaxed some of the rules around the ZEV mandate earlier this year following the industry warnings.

But, as part of a rethink of the party's approach to Net Zero under new leader Kemi Badenoch, the Conservatives are looking at making a pledge to scrap the targets.

It is hoped this would allow Britain's transition to ZEVs to be more consumer-led.

The Tories could scrap Britain's electric vehicle targets in order to promote 'consumer choice' over 'diktats' in the UK's car market.

Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, will warn against the danger of 'state intervention' in the automotive sector in a speech to an industry conference today

Under current plans, UK car manufacturers must sell a certain percentage of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) each year

Mr Griffith is due to tell the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) conference: 'The Westminster postcode did not carefully enough weigh the costs and trade-offs of the policies around Net Zero that were rushed into

'And to be honest you as an industry were too quick to tell governments what you thought they wanted to hear.

'The result is an ever changing zero-emissions vehicle mandate detrimental to the market share of successful European manufacturers.

'History teaches us that sustainable industries are built upon real demand from real consumers and that state intervention is a poor substitute for this.

'That means that we must again allow for real consumer choice in the automotive sector, rather than diktats.

'So, today I want to be clear, the Conservative Party is now under new management, and as a means of growing our economy to make everyone better off, we are unafraid to have the backs of businesses like yours.'

Mrs Badenoch recently announced a change in the Tories' approach to Net Zero by saying it was an 'impossible' target to meet by 2050.

She said it could not be achieved in the next 25 years 'without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us'.

The Net Zero target was made legally-binding under former Tory PM Theresa May in 2019.

The previous Conservative government also introduced the ZEV mandate schemeas part of a push to stop the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030.

The Tories later pushed back the 2030 ban on buying petrol and diesel cars until 2035 under Rishi Sunak.

But, in its manifesto before last July's general election, Labour pledged to restore the phase-out date of 2030 for new cars with internal combustion engines.