Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech watering down the government’s net zero pledges, Sam Richards, founder and campaign director of Britain Remade, said:
“Over the last decade the UK has become a world leader in clean energy, creating hundreds of thousands of well-paid jobs, predominantly in the former industrial heartlands in the North and Midlands.
“It is therefore unfortunate that the Prime Minister has injected uncertainty by moving the goalposts when it comes to the phaseout date for new petrol and diesel cars, putting at risk well paid jobs in the industries of the future.
“He did however commit to speeding up the building of new energy infrastructure, and now has a chance to build confidence by reforming our slugging planning system and overhauling the outdated first-come-first-serve energy grid, both of which significantly hold back the delivery of infrastructure and jobs across the country.
“This will mean that EV chargepoints that are sitting unused in service stations because they’ve not been able to get a connection to the grid can finally be switched on.
“By aggressively accelerating the building of infrastructure the Government can make electric vehicles a more attractive choice to drivers.”
