PM to speed up ban on petrol and diesel cars

Sales will be outlawed by 2035, five years earlier than planned, as Johnson sets out climate measures

THE sale of petrol and diesel cars will be banned five years earlier than planned, under a climate change drive to be unveiled by Boris Johnson.

The previous government announced in 2017 that it would impose a ban on diesel and petrol cars from 2040 as part of an effort to tackle air pollution. However, the Prime Minister is said to be speeding up the plans with a view to implementing the ban by 2035.

Tomorrow, Mr Johnson will set out his Government’s environmental ambitions ahead of COP 26, the UN climate change conference, which the UK will host in November.

It is unclear whether Mr Johnson will make the announcement to end use of petrol and diesel as part of this framework.

Claire Perry O’neill, the former energy minister, was sacked from her role as COP 26 president on Friday night over “concerns about her leadership”.

Mr Johnson told the former Tory MP that she was being removed with immediate effect, leaving the position vacant with just 10 months to go until the event in Glasgow. A cabinet minister is expected to take over the role.

The idea of bringing forward the ban on the sale of diesel and petrol cars was first mooted by Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, last October.

“The Government’s own advisory committee on climate change said 2035 is a date for which we should aim,” Mr Shapps told the Conservative Party conference.

“We need to test these arguments and work in partnership with industry to examine how to proceed.”

A joint committee report criticised the 2040 target as “sufficient ambition”.

Commons committees on environment food and rural affairs; environmental in 2018 lacking audit; health and social care; and transport, warned that “there is insufficient urgency in current policies to accelerate vehicle fleet renewal”.

“Whilst we welcome the Government’s commitment to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040, this target lacks sufficient ambition,” a joint committee report said.

“It is too distant to produce a stepchange in industry and local government planning.”

Mr Johnson has made his commitment to the environment clear, having last year promised a “clean energy revolution” by using “the power of science, innovation and technology”.

Air pollution contributes to an estimated 40,000 premature deaths a year in the UK and is linked to a range of health problems, from childhood illnesses to heart disease. Meanwhile concerns over nitrogen dioxide emissions have grown since Volkswagen was found in September 2015 to have cheated air pollution tests for 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide.

Last month, George Freeman, a transport minister, said he had been “cheered” by Volkswagen’s announcement that it would raise its electric car production forecast for 2025.

“We have momentum, we have know-how, we have industry commitment. Many people haven’t made the shift from electric motoring being a nice idea, a vision, to being a practical reality that we are going to do,” he said.