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What does the ban on fossil fuelled vehicles really mean?

MPs come out to condemn the Government’s 2030 ban on new fossil fuelled car sales and the ill-informed push for us all to drive electric.

  • MPs have endorsed a ground-breaking new report from the APPG for Fair Fuel for UK motorists and UK hauliers. It brings to the attention of decision makers that UK’s 37m drivers also want clean air to breathe. But at the same time to show that the current unilateral Government policies for road users, whilst on the surface seem laudable, are instead set to be damaging for the economy and the Nation’s role in ‘helping out’ with global climate change.
  • APPG Chair, Craig Mackinlay says: “The only thing that’s protecting the Government from electoral harm on this matter is the seeming Westminster consensus and lack of courage to stand up to the climate fanatics and say: enough!  Sooner or later the public will rebel against this madness. Better to have the rational debate now before we fully embark on a failing and expensive experiment.”
  • The Government should immediately remove the threat of the 2030 ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles. Instead, they should incentivise the move to clean fuels by motivating industry and entrepreneurs to develop technologies that will not impact adversely on the economy, drivers, or businesses. Allow the market to dictate what clean fuel technology is best and affordable for all drivers, not through a very costly, divisive ineffective Government mandate.

The APPG Report Highlights:

  • Seven practical recommendations to lower emissions without banning new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2030.
  • A plethora of expert opinions on recent Government edicts and their effective ways to reduce emissions and avoid economic doomsday.
  • Several questions of the Government on behalf of UK’s 37m drivers as to the viability and cost of the Government’s unexpected target date to ban new fossil fuelled cars and vans in 2030.
  • A ‘cradle to grave’ review of Electric Vehicles compared to Petrol/Diesel driven Transport. Highlighting safety, production, electricity supply and practicality of EVs.
  • Whether the Government has truly recognised a fair and equitable replacement for £35bn of annual Fuel Duty and VAT.
  • The largest ever survey of road user opinion that back a series of recommendations from the APPG as to meeting the needs of reducing vehicle emissions without adopting the Government’s highly unpopular road user policies.  50,000 took part.
  • A better way to lower vehicle emissions than using ineffective ‘Pay to Pollute’ policies and cliff edge vehicle sales bans.

‘This report from the APPG offers much food for thought, about current transport & energy policy, raising many questions that the BMF have been asking for some years.’ said BMF chair Jim Freeman ‘This is a 64 page report, which the BMF will be analysing in detail. Expect to see further articles on here over the coming weeks.’

Jim goes on to raise some initial questions:

  • Where’s the electricity going to come from, for all those EVs?
  • What are the true environmental costs of the switch to EVs?
  • Will ordinary people be able to afford the new technologies?
  • Why aren’t very fuel efficient ICE vehicles, i.e. small motorcycles, included in the transport strategies considered by our government?
  • Is the switch to EVs simply a mechanism to enable car manufacturers to sell more vehicles, at higher margins, to consumers? 
  • Are EVs actually far worse, environmentally, at the manufacturing stage, than ICE vehicles?

‘I urge everyone to read the report’ Jim adds ‘If it looks too daunting, watch this space for the BMF’s detailed views, when we’ve had time to look at the report more closely.’

The full report can be accessed here 

Howard Cox, Architect of the Report, Founder of FairFuelUK and Secretary to the APPG said: “All common sense has been thrown out and cluelessly replaced by a set of virtual signalling policies, that have been overwhelmingly rejected by the majority of UK’s drivers. The APPG report shows that the economic recovery would collapse if fossil fuelled car use is squeezed through these needless cliff edge bans. Motorists did not vote for the Green Party in the 2019 General Election, but that is what we have got. The result being a deliberate insidious policy to use cyclists against drivers under the cover of a well-financed ill-informed emotive green agenda.”

“Why hasn’t the Government produced a full post Covid recovery cost benefit analysis as to the impact of the 2030 ban and the highly unpopular push for us all to drive electric, on the economy, UK’s drivers, specifically low-income motorists and small businesses? Most of all, they must objectively demonstrate their policy will achieve lower vehicle emissions and be more beneficial than the mammoth cost of implementing the ban itself. What are they scared of, if they believe this policy is so right?

“Out of touch but we now learn is a diesel driver, Cop26 Government spokesperson Allegra Stratton underlines much of the negatives of driving Electric for herself and her family, yet at the same time is telling us to dump our valued petrol and diesel cars to join her virtue signalling Government’s ill-informed duplicitous crusade to simply look good at Cop 26. This Tory administration is oblivious as to what they are doing to hard working drivers, white van man, logistics and the humungous cost to the economy, all behind an opportunistic green agenda. None of this was in their election manifesto either, the betrayal of UK’s 37m drivers is more than shameful, it is political treachery. These policies will haunt Boris’s re-election chances in perpetuity.”

The APPG Report has been produced by the APPG for Fair Fuel for Motorists and Hauliers, with considerable editorial and research input by its Editor Howard Cox, Secretary to the APPG and Founder of the FairFuelUK Campaign.

FairFuelUK is backed by the RHA & Logistics UK. Other contributors to this report include the Alliance of British Drivers, the Motorcycle Action Group, and the Global Warming Policy Foundation.

Report Contributor Contacts include:

FairFuelUK Campaign – Howard Cox, Report Editor – 07515421611
Alliance of British Drivers – Paul Biggs –  07769691281
Motorcycle Action Group – Lembit Opik –  07973891365
GWPF – Harry Wilkinson

Background: Since 2011 the APPG for Fair Fuel for UK Motorists and UK Hauliers has examined major issues that impact on UK drivers. Along with FairFuelUK, it has been a major influencer on keeping Fuel Duty frozen since 2011.  As well as fuel taxation, other issues addressed by the APPG that impact on drivers, have included congestion charges, ULEZ/CAZs, parking costs, roads investment, unfair treatment for fossil fuelled vehicle owners, solutions to lower emissions, cleaner fuel incentives, alternative technology options and transparent pricing at the fuel pumps with a continual call for PumpWatch. With the expected decline in Fuel Duty revenue, the APPG will also formulate a long-term approach to the future of road taxation and a positive transport strategy for all road users.

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