LONDON – Britain will push back a ban on new gasoline and diesel cars and vans to 2035 from 2030, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, as he set out what he called a “new approach” to tackling climate change.
“We’re going to ease the transition to electric vehicles. You’ll still be able to buy petrol and diesel cars and vans until 2035,” Sunak said in a keynote speech on Wednesday. “Even after that, you’ll still be able to buy and sell them secondhand.”
Sunak said he expects the vast majority of vehicles sold in the U.K. to be electric by 2030 without government intervention, due to falling costs.
“At least for now it should be you, the consumer, who makes that choice, not the government forcing you to do it it,” he said.
The delay will bring Britain in line with the European Union’s plan to require new cars sold after 2035 to be zero emissions, effectively banning the sale of new gasoline and diesel models in the bloc that Britain left in 2020.
Automakers had criticized the government’s decision to push back the 2030 ban before Sunak made his speech.
“Our business needs three things from the U.K. government: ambition, commitment and consistency,” Lisa Brankin, chair of Ford U.K., said before Sunak’s speech. “A relaxation of 2030 would undermine all three.”
Stellantis, which owns brands including Vauxhall, Fiat, Citroen, and Peugeot, said it is committed to achieving “100% zero emission new car and van sales in the U.K. and Europe by 2030” but that government “clarity” is needed.
Watering down green commitments risks widening Conservative divisions just as the party prepares for its annual conference in Manchester next month. Embracing a green agenda has long been a key Tory policy and helped former Prime Minister Boris Johnson stabilize Britain’s global reputation in the wake of his successful campaign to leave the European Union.
“The green industrial revolution is already generating huge numbers of high quality jobs and helping to drive growth and level up our country,” Johnson said in a statement. “It is crucial that we give those businesses confidence that government is still committed to net zero and can see the way ahead.”
With a national election expected next year, Sunak appears to be betting that scaling back some green policies will win over voters who are struggling with stubbornly high inflation and stagnant economic growth.
Sunak said his government remained committed to its legally-binding target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 but he said the government could afford to slow its progress because it was already “so far ahead of every other country in the world.”
He said he had been forced to change the policy because previous governments had moved too quickly on setting net zero targets, without securing the support of the public.
The U.K. car industry has been struggling to attract meaningful investment in EV making and battery plants, despite recent commitments by Jaguar Land Rover-parent Tata Group and by BMW to make electric Minis at Oxford.
Bloomberg and Reuters contributed to this report