We’ve all seen job descriptions that feature phrases like ‘candidate must be flexible and able to respond to change in a fast-paced environment’. I’d imagine that would be top of the list of attributes for whoever is in charge of Sir Keir Starmer’s diary.
Not sure what he had pencilled in for yesterday, but whatever it was got crossed out over the weekend and replaced with a hastily arranged visit to a Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) factory, somewhere deemed an appropriate backdrop for the PM to present his response to Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The President’s decision to tax the US import of foreign cars by 25% – which, of course, includes all the luxury and performance models from JLR, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin, McLaren and others, which American car fans so love – has forced Sir Keir’s hand as he fights to head off the risk of UK automotive redundancies.
Is that likely to happen? Sadly, it’s possible. Anything which causes disruption to production and/or distribution of new cars means the risk of employees with nothing to do, and that’s not good in big business.
To recap, the Government has announced:
- The sale of new petrol and diesel cars will now be banned from 2030, not 2035
- Luxury supercar businesses such as Aston Martin and McLaren will still be allowed to keep producing petrol cars beyond 2030 because they only make a small number of vehicles per year
- New hybrids and plug-in hybrid cars and vans can stay on sale until 2035
- On the ZEV Mandate, the Government is relaxing the rules to make it easier for manufacturers who don’t hit the targets to avoid fines, and the fines are reduced
The idea is that these initiatives, plus £2.3billion of tax breaks for the manufacturers, will make it easier for the industry to switch to producing EVs while continuing to sell hybrids. In short, the Prime Minister hopes that this is enough to keep them all busy, happy and profitable for the next few years, irrespective of whether fewer cars get exported to the USA.
The Government’s press release also mentioned improving charging infrastructure and ‘pressing on with tax breaks worth hundreds of millions of pounds to help people switch to electric vehicles’. The specifics of those are not clear so I’d expect more announcements from the PM soon. Maybe the Head of Diary will get more notice about those.
