Cliff Notes
- Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to relax electric vehicle manufacturing rules in response to US tariffs that affect carmakers, particularly Jaguar Land Rover, which will “pause” shipments to the US.
- The Labour party aims to restore a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, despite previous changes by the Conservative government extending the deadline to 2035.
- Regulations will be adjusted to ease the compliance burden on car manufacturers, allowing some petrol cars to be produced beyond the 2030 deadline and extending the sale of petrol and diesel vans until 2035.
Starmer promises ‘bold changes’ to rules over electric cars in wake of Trump‘s tariffs
Sir Keir Starmer promised “bold changes” as he announced he will relax rules around electric vehicles after carmakers were hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The prime minister said “global trade is being transformed” after the US president‘s 25% levy on imported cars, and 10% tariff on other products, came into force.
Jaguar Land Rover has said the firm will “pause” shipments to the US as they look to “address the new trading terms”.
Labour made a manifesto pledge to restore a 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars after it had been rolled back to 2035 by Rishi Sunak‘s Conservative government.
Sir Keir will officially confirm the ban in an announcement on Monday but regulations around manufacturing targets on electric cars and vans will be altered, to help firms in the transition.
Luxury supercar firms such as Aston Martin and McLaren will still be allowed to keep producing petrol cars beyond the 2030 date, because they only manufacture a small number of vehicles per year.
