Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate

Peter Swallow Excerpts

Monday 7th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

We regularly talk to manufacturers and other organisations that are interested in the move to connected and autonomous vehicles, and we are open to exploring how that might work in the UK. We need to do it in a safe way, but I am interested in how we might expedite trials in the UK. That is a subject that we are working on at the moment.

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

I do not know which businesses the shadow Secretary of State or indeed the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice) have been listening to, but I have spoken to businesses including Honda, whose European headquarters are just outside my constituency, and they have said that they are committed to decarbonisation but had concerns about the inflexibility of the scheme that we inherited from the Conservative party. Does the Secretary of State agree that the statement shows that Labour is the party on the side of the British car industry, and of the industry across the world?

[Heidi Alexander]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. We are backing British business and supporting our domestic car manufacturing industry. I am pleased to hear that the companies based in his constituency will be welcoming the announcement.