Will Rishi Sunak delaying electric car and gas boiler switch affect me?
The cost of living crisis has seen Rishi Sunak go back on some of the government’s key promises on climate change.
In a Downing Street speech on Wednesday, the prime minister announced a delay in the ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030 to 2035 and on gas boilers in all new homes from 2025 to 2035.
He also scrapped plans that would have made rental properties more energy efficient.
But with changes still years into the future – and the cost of living crisis rumbling on – will pushing deadlines back make a difference to people’s finances now? Here, Sky News takes a look.
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Live reaction to PM’s green policy changes
Petrol and diesel vehicle ban
When he was prime minister in 2020, Boris Johnson committed to banning the sale of any new petrol and diesel cars in the UK from 2030. This is now being pushed back until 2035.
Plans to fine manufacturers for each vehicle that doesn’t comply are also being watered down.
Figures show that although petrol and diesel are still the overwhelming majority – the numbers of plug-in and battery electric vehicles on UK roads have increased – by 45% and 58% respectively.
And in 2023 more electric vehicles were registered than diesel ones for the first time.
This shows a “general trend” away from internal combustion engines (ICE) – and towards more sustainable modes of transport already, says Oliver Montague, chief executive and co-founder of the e-bike engineer company Swytch.
So a change in the timing of the ban is unlikely to have much of an impact.
“Those who have to transition [to EVs] will still have to do so – they just have more time to do it,” he tells Sky News.
“The real shift will be for people who can choose how they want to get around – who aren’t already hooked to one particular mode of transport” – such as a diesel car that needs trading in.
And with the average car journey being only around eight miles – he believes many will opt for e-bikes or cycling, instead of an electric vehicle, meaning the ICE ban will have even less of an impact.
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The RAC also notes the ban only covers new petrol and diesel cars, which means “a lot of people won’t be affected as the majority tend to buy used vehicles”.
Mike Childs, head of science, research and policy at Friends of the Earth, adds that people will still be able to buy non-UK manufactured EVs.
“From a consumer perspective it won’t have a great impact because they can just buy Chinese or German EVs,” he tells Sky News.
“But for British manufacturing it’s a huge backwards step and a massive shot in the foot for jobs.”
No gas boilers in new homes
Plans to stop new build properties being fitted with gas boilers beyond 2025 are being pushed back 10 years.
This doesn’t affect people who already have gas boilers, who won’t need to replace them with alternatives such as heat pumps. As a result, this change is more likely to affect developers than consumers.
Domestic heat pump
Jess Ralston, energy analyst at Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, says that with a greater upfront cost for heat pumps, we won’t know until the changes come in how much of that will be passed on to buyers.
But she adds: “As time goes on heat pumps are going to be cheaper to buy and run anyway.”
Plans for all new heating systems to be low carbon by 2035, including £450m in household grants, has also been scrapped.
This means more people will have gas boilers for longer, which with prices “two to three times’ pre-crisis levels” will mean people paying more in energy bills, Ms Ralston adds.
But on Wednesday Mr Sunak did announce a 50% increase in the boiler upgrade scheme, which offers people £7,500 to help with the costs of switching from a boiler to a heat pump.
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More energy efficient landlords
In 2020, Boris Johnson also pledged that from 2028 all rental properties would have to have an energy efficient rating of C or higher (A being the best and G the worst). But Mr Sunak is scrapping this due to “cost of living challenges”.
Ms Ralston says she “cannot get a single shred of logic” from the decision.
“This would reduce people’s energy bills in the cost of living crisis and increase energy security – things that the government say they want to be doing. It makes no sense whatsoever.”
Mr Childs says it will disproportionately affect people on lower incomes who are more likely to rent their homes.
“This is a massive kick in the teeth to people who live in cold, damp rented homes that are expensive to heat.
“It’s also a massive handout to landlords who can’t be bothered to insulate their properties properly,” he says.
He adds that despite some drop in prices this year, the cost of oil and gas is increasing again – and will remain volatile for as long as Russia is at war with Ukraine.
“There are more renters than there are landlords, so it makes no sense on votes. It just begs the question of whether the government are being lobbied by wealthy landlords,” Ms Ralston says.
Hydrogen levy
The government was proposing to introduce a levy of around £100 on household energy bills in 2025 – to help pay for low-carbon hydrogen production.
But after many claimed the hydrogen was being used primarily in industry – not people’s homes – ministers have scrapped it.
This is being welcomed by environmental and consumer groups.
Ms Ralston says that heat pumps are far more efficient than hydrogen for heating homes – so the government was right to recognise this wasn’t something the public should pay for.
Mr Childs adds that hydrogen still relies on natural gas – which both homes and transport have been moving away from, so Friends of the Earth has been “against it from the outset”.
A workman saved a seven-year-old boy from a burning car in the aftermath of a deadly crash caused by a suicidal ex-pilot, an inquest has heard.
The schoolboy’s rescue came following the collision on the M6, which killed former RAF man Richard Woods and four others, in October last year.
Last week a coroner ruled that Woods, 40, took his own life by deliberately driving his Skoda the wrong way down the motorway while drunk and hitting a Toyota Yaris head-on.
The driver of the Toyota, Jaroslaw Rossa, 42, was also killed, along with his two sons, Filip, 15, and Dominic, seven, and his partner Jade McEnroe, 33.
Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard on Thursday that Ms McEnroe’s son was also in the car but survived after workman Gavin Walsh came to his rescue at the scene, which was near Tebay services in Cumbria.
In a statement to the inquest, Mr Walsh said he was a passenger in a transit van travelling to Scotland when he witnessed the crash.
He jumped out of the vehicle and used a jack to smash the rear windscreen of the Toyota and pulled the boy out of the burning vehicle.
Mr Walsh said: “We really did try, I can assure everyone we did our best. We only had minimal time.
“I saved a life that day and I hope never to witness anything like that again.”
He added that he has never stopped thinking about the boy, and said: “I hope we will meet again one day and I will give you a massive hug.”
At the time, the family were returning to Glasgow from a trip to Legoland in Windsor, Berkshire.
The inquest heard that Wood, who was travelling at a speed of at least 65mph, would have been charged with manslaughter had he survived.
Recording conclusions of unlawful killing, Cumbria assistant coroner Margaret Taylor said: “I found that Jaroslaw, Jade, Filip and Dominic died as a consequence of the unlawful acts of another driver.”
The inquest heard how Mr Woods, from Cambridgeshire, had served a distinguished 14-year career in the RAF and was a flight instructor for BAE Systems at the time of his death.
Jade McEnroe. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Dominic and Filip. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
In Ms Taylor’s record of inquest, Mr Woods was said to have been experiencing “a number of stressors in his life” and had a “history of harmful use of alcohol”.
Following the crash, he was found to be nearly four times over the legal drink-drive limit and a two-thirds empty bottle of gin was found in his car.
On the day of his death, concerns had been raised over his behaviour at a work conference near Preston in Lancashire.
Mr Woods failed to return to his seat after lunch and was later spotted driving erratically and swerving across three northbound carriageway lanes on the M6.
After pulling onto the hard shoulder, he then proceeded to U-turn and drove southward on lane three.
Filip, Dominic and Jaroslaw Rossa. Pic: Cumbria Constabulary
Detective Sergeant Deborah Story, from Cumbria Police, told the inquest that Mr Woods would have been prosecuted on four counts of manslaughter had he lived.
She said hypothetical charges of murder were considered by detectives but not thought appropriate because of a lack of information that Mr Woods knew the family or anything that provided a link between them.
Ms McEnroe’s parents, Marie McEnroe and George McNellis, told the coroner they thought it was “murder”.
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A statement from the mother of Filip and Dominic, and the ex-wife of Mr Rossa, Kamila, was read out at the inquest.
She said Mr Rossa, known as Jarek, was born in Poland where they became a couple and went on to have three boys.
He loved playing computer games and had “lots of friends”, she said, and worked at the Wagamama restaurant in Silverburn, Glasgow.
She said she was “devastated” over the deaths, adding: “Our lives will never be the same.
“I am heartbroken at the passing of my beloved angels Filip and Dominic.”
Marie McEnroe said her daughter, a spa therapist, had been in a relationship with Mr Rossa for about two-and-a-half years.
She said Jade had been a “brilliant mother” to her only child, was “really happy” with Mr Rossa and it was “lovely chaos” when all the boys were playing together.
Ms McEnroe added: “Life changed forever that day”.
Ms Taylor praised the “selfless acts of bravery” from those in the aftermath of the collision, including Mr Walsh, who she said went towards the burning car “without hesitation for his own safety”.
The coroner added: “Without his swift response, Jade’s child would also have perished.”
Addressing the bereaved family members, she said: “Your loss is unimaginable but you have conducted yourself with dignity and I thank you for that. I wish you strength for the future.”
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
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