New diesel and petrol vehicles will likely be banned from sale from 2030 however only a fraction of the autos employed by the Authorities run on electrical energy
Power Secretary Ed Miliband is one in every of Britain’s foremost champions of web zero (Picture: Getty)
Labour has been accused of “pure hypocrisy” for forcing households and companies in direction of electrical autos when many Whitehall departments hire virtually none. The sale of recent petrol and diesel vehicles will likely be banned by 2030 however Sir Keir Starmer’s Authorities has didn’t embrace the electrical age in relation to the autos it makes use of.
New analysis reveals the Division of Well being and Social Care employed 14 autos in a yr however not one single electrical automotive. Of greater than 1,000 hires on the Division for Work and Pensions, only one was electrical.
The Division for Training employed simply 5 electrical vehicles over two years. And the Cupboard Workplace, the Authorities’s engine room, employed greater than 1,500 autos in 2024-25 however solely 14 have been electrical. A paltry six out of 149 hires at Ed Miliband’s Division for Power Safety and Internet Zero have been electrical.
A raft of different Authorities departments didn’t present the knowledge, saying it was not held, not collected centrally or too pricey to acquire. The Conservatives, who obtained the figures, have pledged to abolish the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles and finish the authorized requirement on producers to promote a set proportion of electrical autos annually.
The Tories accused Labour of “failing to guide by instance and refusing to account for their very own behaviour”.
Shadow Transport Secretary Richard Holden mentioned: “Labour ministers hire petrol vehicles whereas telling the remainder of the nation what we’re allowed to drive – that’s pure hypocrisy. Labour carve out exemptions for themselves, dodge the information, then lecture households and companies. That is one rule for them and one other for us, an EV mandate pressured on the general public by individuals who refuse to stay by it themselves.”
He pledged: “The Conservatives will finish this nonsense, scrap the EV mandate, and finish the ban on petrol and diesel vehicles, restoring freedom of alternative for drivers. Scrapping the mandate places Britain again within the driving seat.
“Our job is to help a transport system that works for folks and never power business and customers down a one-way avenue earlier than the nation is prepared.”
The automotive business is within the throes of one of many biggest upheavals in generations (Picture: Getty) The newest politics information – straight from our staff in Westminster Subscribe Invalid e-mail
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A Authorities spokesperson mentioned: “We’re absolutely dedicated to attaining a zero emissions fleet and have set bold targets for Authorities autos to make the change to electrical. We’re taking a sensible method to decarbonisation, supporting drivers to make the change by investing over £7.5billion, together with the £2billion Electrical Automotive Grant, serving to over 65,000 drivers to decide on an EV since July final yr.”
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