THIS IS WHAT CONSUMER COMMUNISM LOOKS LIKE – The announcement by Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister, that Britain will delay the ban on petrol cars to 2035 has shockingly exposed the wholly inadequate governance mindset that has captured our ruling elite.
In 2019 and again in 2021, two Conservative Prime Ministers, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, with the enthusiastic endorsement of the Labour Party, introduced changes to the Climate Act 2008 and a Carbon Budget Order that threw a hand grenade into the automotive industry.
The 2030 ban, a date that was plucked out of thin air, was imposed with zero debate in an act of Green euphoria and Borisesque bravado without considering its far-reaching consequences or the way in which China, terrifyingly, would play us at our own game and win.
Here are the facts.
1. EVs are expensive, unreliable, quick to write-off in a collision, too heavy for Britain’s Victorian-era infrastructure, costly to dispose of, quick to lose value and, crucially, do not offer a viable propulsion-system for heavy transport vehicles.
2. There is a critical shortage of EV charging-stations and no UK energy strategy to generate electricity to supply the required number, let alone provide power to the rest of the “Net Zero“ economy.
3. Consumers resent being told by Government what car to buy and they thoroughly mistrust the Net Zero process. 75% of total UK purchases are now fleet orders, but only because of the low “benefit in kind” taxes on end-users.
Unsurprisingly, the Government’s 2030 ban has just detonated in its face. But the big picture is much more disturbing.
1. Over 80% of the world’s battery cells are produced in China, world-leader in mineral acquisition and processing and owner of a rock-solid supply chain of domestically produced EVs.
2. Europe, through its State-imposed Net Zero strategy, has deeply exposed its industry to China which is ready to ship 2 million cheap EVs to Europe to capture a big slice of the market, even after 10% import duty.
3. If the EU responds with even higher tariffs, it will not make European models more appealing while making it harder for the EU to meet its 2035 ban. Higher tariffs would harm the UK too because British-made EVs use Chinese batteries.
4. There is a much bigger threat: China could literally “stop” millions of its vehicles on European roads and create catastrophic blockages at power stations, military installations and other critical infrastructure.
5. Frank Kendall, US Secretary of the Air Force, states: “The intelligence couldn’t be clearer. Whatever its actual intentions may be, I could not say. But China is preparing for a war, and specifically for a war with the United States.”
The dystopian, top-down policy to upturn the world’s source of energy production has failed British consumers, betrayed industry – who are now rightly incensed that their huge investment has been squandered by the Government’s U-turn – and weakened the West.
