Labour MPs are urging the British government to retain its requirement that 80% of vehicles sold by carmakers in 2030 be electric, as cabinet ministers prepare to negotiate a possible reduction, The Guardian reports.

Members of Labour’s climate and nature crisis caucus say weakening the target would damage the government’s environmental ambitions and industrial strategy. Their intervention comes ahead of a ministerial meeting now scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 12, after being postponed from Wednesday, according to government sources cited by Guardian reporter Kiran Stacey.

The newspaper reported that Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds wants the target reduced to 50%, while Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander favours about 60%. Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh is seeking to keep it as close to 80% as possible.

Louise Haigh, who is standing in for Prime Minister Andy Burnham in the discussions after he recused himself over a potential conflict of interest, is expected to favour a compromise between 60% and 65%, sources told The Guardian. No final agreement was reported, and an announcement is considered likely this month.

Caucus chair Chris Hinchliff wrote to Alexander on Tuesday, warning that cutting the target would be a “step backwards”.

“This would undermine the government’s wider net zero ambitions and our credibility as a climate leader on the world stage,” he wrote. Hinchliff also argued that diluting the requirement would distract from the coordinated industrial strategy needed to support Burnham’s push to reindustrialise Britain.

Other Labour MPs backed that position. Norwich South MP Clive Lewis called for consistency and greater ambition, while Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome warned that weakening what she described as the government’s biggest decarbonisation policy would have serious environmental consequences without helping the cost of living.

But some Labour representatives from industrial areas support a lower target. Antonia Bance, MP for Tipton and Wednesbury, said a 50% requirement would give manufacturers a more realistic route while protecting British jobs, investment and supply chains.

The Guardian said it had contacted the Department for Transport for comment. Its report did not include a departmental response.

Sources