Lilian Greenwood (Labour)

The Government support zero emission vehicles through taxation incentives, vehicle grants and funding infrastructure roll-out. In January, EV sales were 42% higher than in January 2024. The recent National Audit Office report showed that we are on track to meet the 300,000 public charging points needed for expected demand in 2030.

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Lilian Greenwood (Labour)

As I am sure the hon. Member knows, there has been a rapid increase in the roll-out of electric charging points—it was up by more than 40% last year. However, she is absolutely right that in some cases that roll-out is difficult, because it is held back by the availability of capacity on the network. That is precisely why we are working across Government, including with my colleagues in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, to unblock those things, so that we can ensure that everyone can access the electric vehicle charging points that they need close to home.

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Greg Smith (Conservative)

Last year, just one in 10 consumers buying a new car chose battery electric, and in 2024, the private market for battery electric was 20% lower than Government intervention had tried to manipulate it to be. Without fleet sales—which we know are warped by huge tax incentives, promoting them over practical vehicle choices—electric car demand just is not there. When will the Minister understand that people are crying out for a different way to defossilise and decarbonise their private vehicles? Battery electric just is not popular, so when will the Government stop trying to tell people what they should want? This is just a “Government knows best” attitude at its very worst, is it not?

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Lilian Greenwood (Labour)

What an absolutely astonishing intervention by the shadow Minister. It was his Government who introduced the zero emission vehicle mandate, and we are not proposing to change the trajectory that they introduced. I would gently remind him that many fleet vehicles are in fact private vehicles, as people choose to lease their vehicles or access them through a salary sacrifice scheme. Last year, the UK was the largest market in Europe—in fact, in the world—for EV vehicles. He is talking nonsense.

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Greg Smith (Conservative)

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ January report simply does not back up what the Minister has just said. I repeat that only one in 10 consumers—the people we all represent in this House—actively chose a battery electric vehicle. As the Minister knows from her time on the Transport Select Committee when we looked at the future of fuel, there are other technologies out there. The Government like to say that they are technology-neutral, but the ZEV mandate’s myopic focus on the tailpipe rather than whole system analysis effectively denies our innovators the room to defossilise and decarbonise in a manner that consumers want. Surely the Minister sees that, so instead of trying to force people to buy battery electric, will the Government just get the bureaucracy out of the way and let our innovators innovate?

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