Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential economic impact of a ban on the sale of petrol cars on the UK economy.

The Department has not published an assessment of the economic impacts of a ban of the sale of petrol cars in the UK. However, the Department has published an assessment of the impacts of the first phase of the ZEV mandate, which mandates that 80% of new car and 70% of new van sales must be zero emission by 2030. This includes an assessment of the policy’s direct economic impacts, including social costs and benefits, on employment related to the manufacture of vehicles and development of the charging infrastructure network, and on drivers’ disposable incomes.

On 30 March 2023, the Department published a consultation on our final proposals for a zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate and regulation of CO2 emissions for new cars and vans in the UK from January 2024. The accompanying consultation-stage cost benefit analysis sets out the economic impacts of the proposed regulations.