All new homes to have e-car charge point from next year

EVERY new home and office will be legally required to install electric vehicle charge points from the middle of next year, Boris Johnson will announce today.

The Prime Minister will tell business leaders that he wants them to help deliver a new “green industrial revolution”, kicking off a decade in which hundreds of thousands of charge points will be included in properties and premises across the country.

Under changes to building regulations, all new homes and offices, and those undergoing large-scale renovations leaving them with more than 10 parking spaces, will be required to have electric vehicle charge points.

As a result of the regulations, up to 145,000 extra points will be installed across England each year in the run-up to 2030, when the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will end in the UK.

The rule changes will be laid in Parliament before the end of next month and will come into force by the middle of next year after “an adjustment period of no less than six months” after they are considered by MPS.

The Government also wants to introduce simpler ways to pay whilst travelling, such as through contactless systems, at new fast and rapid charge points.

Mr Johnson will tell today’s Confederation of British Industry annual conference: “This is a pivotal moment – we cannot go on as we are. We have to adapt our economy to the green industrial revolution.

“We have to use our massive investment in science and technology and we have to raise our productivity, and then we have to get out of our way. We must regulate less, or better, and take advantage of new freedoms.”

Also speaking at the conference, Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, will say that his party is the real party of business, as he seeks to capitalise on an apparent “disconnect” between Tory ministers and corporate Britain.

He will tell delegates: “Labour is back in business. The dual meaning is entirely deliberate. We are, and always were, the party of work.

“Founded in the workplace, we are the party of working people. And that means Labour must always be the party of business as well.”

Labour sources said that the party was “leading a programme of extensive engagement in sharp contrast to the Prime Minister’s ‘f--- business’ comments” to diplomats in 2018.