EU plans to water down ban on new petrol and diesel cars
The EU has confirmed it wants to water down its 2035 ban on the sale of new petrol or diesel cars, yielding to heavy pressure from the car industry and leaders from several EU member states including Germany and Italy.Wopke Hoekstra, a European climate commissioner, described the proposals as a “win-win” situation for consumers and industry, keeping Europe on the electrification course with a series of carrot and stick measures.Under current legislation, manufacturers were obliged to ensure that 100% of production of cars and vans had zero emissions from 2035.The European Commission has now proposed reducing this to 90%, enabling the continued manufacture of a portion of plug-in hybrid electric cars, or even combustion engines beyond 2035.In a carrot-and-stick approach, the remaining 10% of assembly line output that is not carbon neutral will need to be compensated by other green measures on the factory floor, including the use of green steel made in Europe or use of biofuels in non-electric vehicles.
“This will allow for plug-in hybrids (PHEV), range extenders, mild hybrids, and internal combustion engine vehicles to still play a role beyond 2035, in addition to full electric (EVs) and hydrogen vehicles,” the commission said,Apostolos Tzitzikostas, a commissioner for sustainable transport, said: “This gives the market and the consumer the freedom to decide which technology they want to drive,” The industry commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, said the European industry faced three challenges: competition from China, “a crisis in demand” and slow tech development in Europe,The proposals, which require approval from EU governments and the European parliament, are the bloc’s biggest retreat from its green policies enacted over the previous five years,Opponents said the announcement was a blow for Europe’s electrification journey.
Chris Heron, the secretary general of the trade association E-Mobility Europe, said it was “the wrong time for Europe to take the wind out of its own sails”, adding the only way the EU industry could remain competitive was to reinforce its policy, not by “pulling off course”,Greenpeace UK’s policy director, Dr Douglas Parr, urged Keir Starmer not to follow suit,“The UK must not join Europe in this act of economic self-sabotage,” he said,Greenpeace Germany’s executive director, Martin Kaiser, described the plan as “an early Christmas present for Chinese electric car manufacturers”,Announcing the proposals, Hoekstra said the EU was “staying the course on zero emissions” but “introducing some flexibility for manufacturers so they can meet their CO2 targets in the most cost efficient way”.
Séjourné also announced measures to accelerate the delivery of small electric cars.If the vehicles are under 4.2 metres in length, cost between €15,000 to €20,000 (£13,151 to £17,535) and are made in the EU, customers will benefit from reductions in road tolls and discounts at charging stations and manufacturers will get bonus credits for their factory floor carbon output.Up to 2035, manufacturers of small electric cars will get “super credits” allowing them to bank bonus carbon credits for their factories.BEUC, the EU organisation of consumer bodies, welcomed efforts to bring small EVs to the market, saying hybrid cars at a cost of €40,000 were “nowhere near a real option for most households”.
The commission is also proposing to relax targets for electric vans, reducing the requirements for a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 to 40%.The move, which follows lobbying by the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, will be seen as a victory for the European car industry, which has struggled to make the transition to electric and faces growing competition from Chinese rivals.The decision, which had been widely anticipated in recent days, has already been denounced by the Green party in the European parliament, which has said it amounts to a “gutting” of flagship legislation aimed at cutting Europe’s emissions.The commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, who championed the green deal, insisted that “Europe remains at the forefront of the global clean transition”.She said the proposals, which must be supported by the European parliament, were taken after “intense dialogues with automotive sector, civil society organisations and stakeholders”.
UK politics: Employment rights bill set to become law after Lords backing – as it happened
The House of Lords has passed the employment rights bill. Last week Tory and cross-bench peers defeated the government over one aspect of the bill – a last-minute addition lifting the cap on compensation paid to people who win a case for unfair dismissal – but that defeat was overturned on Monday and this afternoon peers debated the bill again. This time the Tories and cross-benchers dropped their opposition to the measure, and the bill as agreed by the Commons was approved without a division.That means it will now get royal assent very shortly.Lord Sharpe of Epsom, the Conservative spokesperson, told peers that a letter from business groups released by the government yesterday, in which the business groups urged peers to pass the bill, showed that ministers had “misrepresented” the compromise deal unveiled last month
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Call it a Christmas miracle. For this was the day when Richard Tice sent in his application to become a fully paid-up member of Woke. The day the Reform deputy leader tried to break free from his role as the perennial sidekick. An insignificant blot on the Nigel Farage landscape. When he tried to show he was able to think his own thoughts
How far must UK go to fend off threat of foreign interference in its elections?
Russia has been attempting to meddle with western democracy for years, but successive governments led by Boris Johnson and others have insisted that the UK’s electoral system can withstand its influence.That argument was recently blown apart by the conviction of former Reform politician Nathan Gill, jailed for 10 years for accepting bribes to advance Russian arguments.And now Steve Reed, the cabinet minister responsible for elections, has admitted there are worries that the UK’s “firewall” against foreign interference may not be strong enough as he ordered an independent review.The decision is clearly partly motivated by the chance to score political points against Reform UK over its links to the Russian bribe case. And yet there is no doubting the reality of the threat, even if it has until recently been ignored
Richard Tice refuses to condemn Reform mayoral candidate’s comments about David Lammy
Reform UK’s deputy leader has refused to condemn a mayoral candidate for the party who said David Lammy should “go home to the Caribbean”.Richard Tice said it was the role of the party to “challenge” the justice secretary. Answering questions after a press conference, he also refused to say whether he still thought the 25-plus former school contemporaries of Nigel Farage who have accused the Reform leader of racism and other offensive behaviour were making up their claims, calling it “old news”.Reform has repeatedly declined to condemn comments on X by Chris Parry, a retired naval rear admiral who has been picked to contest the now-postponed Hampshire and the Solent mayoral election for the party.In a post in February, referring to a news story about the UK government supposedly considering talks about reparations for slavery – which ministers have in fact rejected – Parry is said to have written: “Lammy must go home to the Caribbean where his loyalty lies
Starmer’s communications chief to address cabinet on media strategy overhaul
Keir Starmer’s Whitehall communications chief will address the cabinet on overhauling the government’s media strategy on Tuesday as ministers increasingly try to combat far-right rhetoric online.David Dinsmore, a former editor of the Sun who was appointed permanent secretary for government communications in November, will speak to ministers about modernising the way they reach voters.The government is concerned about the proliferation of false and inflammatory far-right content on social media and is stepping up efforts to communicate on those platforms.A New Media Unit (NMU) was set up inside the Cabinet Office by Starmer’s aides soon after Labour came to power to coordinate those efforts.The work is led on the ministerial side by Darren Jones, who was tasked by Starmer on his appointment as chief secretary to the prime minister in September to develop and modernise the government’s communications
US puts £31bn tech ‘prosperity deal’ with Britain on ice
The US has paused its promised multi-billion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements, marking a serious setback in US-UK relations.The £31bn “tech prosperity deal”, hailed by Keir Starmer as “a generational stepchange in our relationship with the US” when it was announced during Donald Trump’s state visit, has been put on ice by Washington.As part of the deal, US tech companies pledged to spend billions in the UK, including a £22bn investment from Microsoft and £5bn from Google. But Washington has paused the implementation of the agreement, citing a lack of progress from the UK in lowering trade barriers in other areas.British officials sought to downplay the development, which was first reported by the New York Times
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