THE UK risks missing ‘golden’ investment opportunities in the impending green revolution because of decisions by both major political parties to row back on previous spending pledges.
That’s the view from salary sacrifice and fleet management specialist, Fleet Evolution, which says that recent announcements by both Conservative and Labour parties are heading in the wrong direction at a time when more, not less, green investment is needed.
Last September, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced an easing in a series of green policies under a new approach designed to protect hard-pressed British families from “unacceptable costs”. He said he was still committed to reaching net zero by 2050, but the transition can be done in a fairer and better way.
Announcing a raft of U-turns, the prime minister introduced a delay on the ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by five years and confirmed a weakening of targets to phase out gas boilers.
More recently the Labour Party, billed by many as the government-in-waiting, has announced a huge cut in a £28bn spending plan first introduced in 2021 by shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
She said at the time the money would be spent on battery manufacturing, hydrogen power, offshore wind, tree planting, flood defenses and home insulation.
However, in recent days, Party leader Sir Keir Starmer and Reeves have jointly announced they would slash the green prosperity plan from £28bn a year to under £15bn if they came to power – only a third of which would be new money.
Andrew Leech, founder and managing director at Tamworth-based Fleet Evolution, which specialises in EV salary sacrifice schemes for businesses of all sizes, said both political parties were sending the wrong message for the UK’s future green direction.
“Leading environmental experts, including Oxford University and the Arup Group, have forecast that new green industries could contribute $10.3 trillion to the world economy by 2050. However, the government and now the government-in-waiting have both rowed back on commitments to invest in the industries that will drive this change. As a business, we feel this is extremely shortsighted from both parties and misses a golden opportunity.
“Leaving aside the environmental benefits, the new green industries are equivalent to the start of a new industrial revolution. The UK was at the forefront of the last one, much of which has been responsible for our climate crisis.
“But, by cutting investment, we are passing up the chance to lead this new green revolution, which could help solve our current financial and climate woes. it’s the wrong message and the wrong direction,” he said.
Leech also said the Labour Party pledge to reverse the Government’s recently announced extension to the ban on new ICE cars from 2030 to 2035 was the wrong one – for a variety of reasons.
“Given the nature of our business, you could be forgiven for thinking that we would be in favour of reintroducing the 2030 ban on all new ICE models. However, we feel it is entirely the wrong decision when investment in key infrastructure is being scaled back. While we strongly believe that products and infrastructure are very well placed to support the 60% of us who can charge at home, for the 40% that cannot – who live in flats with no access to home charging, for example – we are still woefully short of meeting their needs.
“As a country, we need more time for local authorities to plan properly and introduce initiatives such as kerb-side and lamp post charging for local communities. And we also need to allow the natural build-up of stocks of second hand EVs at affordable prices to allow everyone to be able to access them.
“At the moment, too many EVs look unaffordable for the average motorist and much of the charging infrastructure is inadequate and too expensive. More investment is needed in the green revolution, not less,” he said.
