Key facts
- Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, wants the 2030 zero-emission vehicle target cut to 50%.
- Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, wants the target cut to about 60%, the report said.
- Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, is pushing for the target to stay as close to 80% as possible.
- Sources said Louise Haigh is likely to back a new target of between 60% and 65%.
- Antonia Bance, MP for Tipton and Wednesbury, said a 50% target would give manufacturers a more realistic pathway.
- The Department for Transport has been contacted for comment and had not responded, the report said.
Labour MPs are pressing the government not to weaken its electric vehicle sales targets, as cabinet ministers prepare to meet on Thursday to settle a compromise. Members of the climate and nature crisis caucus say ministers must not water down a legal requirement for carmakers to ensure that 80% of the vehicles they sell in 2030 are electric.
The intervention comes as Louise Haigh, the de facto deputy prime minister, prepares to meet the energy, business and transport secretaries to decide whether to change the target. A meeting planned for Wednesday was pushed back to Thursday, according to government sources. Haigh is standing in for Andy Burnham after the prime minister recused himself over a potential conflict of interest.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, wants to cut the target to 50%, while Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, wants to cut it to about 60%. Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, is pushing for it to remain as close to 80% as possible. Sources said Haigh is likely to support a middle route and agree a new target of between 60% and 65%. A final announcement is likely this month.
Chris Hinchliff, the chair of the caucus, wrote to Alexander on Tuesday saying a decision to cut the 2030 target would be a step backwards. He said: "This would undermine the government's wider net zero ambitions and our credibility as a climate leader on the world stage." He also said: "Diluting the mandate would be a backward-looking distraction from the urgent need for a coordinated industrial strategy." The Department for Transport has been contacted for comment.
Clive Lewis, the MP for Norwich South, said: "We need more ambitious targets, not less ambitious ones." Nadia Whittome, the MP for Nottingham East, said: "This is the government's biggest decarbonisation policy." Some Labour MPs from industrial areas back cuts. Antonia Bance, the MP for Tipton and Wednesbury, said: "A 50% ZEV target by 2030 would give manufacturers a more realistic pathway while still keeping us on track for net zero."
Other Labour figures are concerned that weakening the EV policy and approving the Jackdaw gasfield are undermining the government's green credentials and could risk boosting the Green party. One MP said: "Climate is not something that seems to be close to Andy [Burnham]'s heart."