THE Government should act “urgently” to speed up the UK’s transition to electric vehicles, the Bishop of Oxford, Dr Steven Croft, has told the House of Lords.
Dr Croft is a member of the Environment and Climate Change Committee (ECC), whose report, published in February under the previous government, which he described as a “tremendous learning curve. Each issue had multiple questions and problems related to it and needed complex solutions.”
Speaking in a take-note debate on electric vehicles (EV) on Wednesday, he said: “The effects of climate change internationally are accelerating . . . often affecting those that have least, who’re least resilient, and whose emissions in the current and previously have been lowest internationally.”
Passenger cars accounted for greater than half the surface transport emissions within the UK, he said — a degree made by Baroness Parminter (Liberal Democrat), chair of the ECC, who brought the controversy. These emissions contributed to the just about 30,000 deaths from air pollution every yr, she said.
Moving the British public away from petrol and diesel would require planning, co-ordination, and “an awful lot of leadership from the Government. . . Now is the time to make those strides to bring individuals with us within the EV transition that’s so mandatory.
“EVs are still not inexpensive enough for all individuals who must have a automobile. . . Having VAT at a differential rate in case you shouldn’t have the advantage of owning your personal home and your personal automobile parking space just isn’t fair.”
She also criticised those newspapers that were “showing their fossil-fuel-soaked colors” in running “blatant campaigns of misinformation”, she said. “We need our Government to face down individuals who don’t consider in net-zero.”
Dr Croft acknowledged the Labour manifesto commitment to accelerating the roll-out of charging points; restoring the phase-out date of 2030 for brand new cars with internal-combustion engines; and supporting buyers of secondhand electric cars by standardising information.
While he sought a response on when these can be implemented, he also said that “the steps will not be enough by themselves.”
The Government must also ensure a good transition to electric vehicles. “Forty per cent of the country won’t have access to a house charging point,” he said. “There is at present no viable solution to make sure parity, and I agree that our committee was not in a position to offer one, but it would need some radical and imaginative pondering. How will the Government address this key query of fairness?”
Describing the transition to EVs as “a possible revolution in our road transport, our economy, and public health over the following decade”, he asked how the Government would “lead and encourage the transition through higher communication and co-ordination across government”.
Responding to the controversy, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour) endorsed several other speakers’ view that consumer confidence was critical to success.
“The Government must do more to convey a positive vision of EVs and to counter misinformation concerning the technology. Growing confidence is clearly a task I think government has to take, and that is one which we readily accept,” he said.
He reiterated the Government’s “firm intention” to phase out the sale of latest cars powered solely by a internal-combustion engine by 2030, and warranted the Lords of its commitment to working closely with investors “to construct a globally competitive EV and battery supply chain within the UK”.
