The UK will stage its third general election in four years today (Thursday, 12 December) – and the results could have a major impact on motorists and the car industry.
Brexit is a key issue in the election and Britain’s ongoing relationship with the European Union could greatly affect the motor industry in this country. And the leading parties have all unveiled other policies that are significant to car owners, including pledges to phase out the sales of combustion-engined cars and to cut carbon emissions.
These are the main car-related policies in the manifestos of the three main parties that have candidates standing across the UK.
Conservative Party
ï® Leave the EU by 31 January and keep the UK out of the EU single market and customs union. Negotiate a new EU trade deal but the implementation period won’t extend beyond December 2020.
ï® £38.8 billion investment in ‘strategic and local roads’.
ï® £1bn investment in a fast-charging network, with the aim for everyone to be within 30 miles of a rapid charging station.
ï® Reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
ï® Consult to determine the earliest date for phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.
ï® Launch the biggest pothole filling programme yet.
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Boris is back!?
Good old bumbling Boris is back....with a majority, he'll fix it for us, won't he...?
Whilst I am not a climate
Give Me Combustion
So if you like traditional cars powered by oil you're pretty much screwed. The automotive world certainly looks set to become a rather silent, dull place in the next 30 years or so.
TheBritsAreComing wrote:
Why would you only like combustion ? Theres lots to like about electric, assuming of course some one starts to build electric cars for people who like driving, something thats admittedly rare at the moment, but perfectly possible. You can also run petrol and diesel engines on fuel made from plants making them carbon nuetral, so you CAN carry on using them too.
Modern Day Witches
It's not that I only like combustion vehicles but it is the case that I prefer them. For that preference I, along with many others, am bestowed the label of heretic by self-professed "experts" with qualifications from Marxist institutions that we are supposed to consider are prestigious and unbiased.
Look at the policies outlined above. There is no future for the combustion engine or those who admire it among our political "elites." They are determined to legislate such devices out of existence, no exceptions. It's this 'No Exceptions' part that particularly bothers me. You'll forgive me if I'm not at all convinced when they spout their "It's all for the greater good" rhetoric.
TheBritsAreComing wrote:
There is a future for ICE, it is limited but there is one, as I said you can run them on fuel made from plants.
And of course one of the best things for the environment is to keep a car for as long as possible and get as much use out of it as you can.
The talk is not about banning existing ICE vehicles, just stopping the sale of new ICE vehicles.
I wont forgive you if youre "not at all convinced when they spout their "It's all for the greater good" rhetoric." ", because that attitude suggests that you think that the climate scientists are lying. Whis good do you think its for then ? Would you question the advice of experts if they were medical experts advising you that you needed a heart bypass ? Or would you just accept it and follow their advice ?
typos1 wrote:
Top-down revolutions are never conducted in the interests of the people at the bottom. Take a look at where the money is coming from and where it's going. Greta Thunberg is being funded by Swedish energy company executives, investment company executives and billionaire financiers. This is about the consolidation of wealth and power within a political orthodoxy.