Burnham criticised for EV rollback and North Sea drilling
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- Andy Burnham was accused of undermining net zero commitments as his government launched a consultation on cutting the 2030 EV target to as little as 50% (from 80%) and must decide on new drilling at the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields, with the Rosebank consultation closing Monday.
- Burnham acknowledged for the first time as PM that climate change was behind hundreds of wildfires, calling Britain 'a tinderbox right now' while activating the military, banning disposable barbecues, commissioning firefighting planes, and appointing a new fire minister.
- The West Midlands wildfires destroyed 19 homes, burned 200 hectares, and sent dozens to hospital on a day the UK recorded its hottest temperature of the year at 38°C — the fifth hottest ever — completing five heatwaves this summer.
- The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit warned that the most extreme option (cutting the EV target to 50%) could reduce electric car sales by as much as 5.8 million and make the 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel cars significantly harder to achieve.
- Greenpeace UK head of politics Ami McCarthy pushed back on the rollback, arguing 'both the Iran war and this summer's extreme weather have shown once again why we're better off cutting our dependence on fossil fuels.'
- The ZEV mandate consultation runs until 23 October and also considers extending plug-in hybrid loopholes to 2034 — marking the second time Labour has softened the policy after adding 'flexibilities' last year.
- Automotive industry lobby group SMMT backed the review, warning the mandate was 'conceived under vastly different conditions' and risks job losses or UK factory closures if left unchanged.
Why it matters: The timing — proposing to weaken the UK's largest single climate policy on the day temperatures hit 38°C and wildfires destroyed homes — gives climate campaigners a concrete contradiction to attack, with the ECIU estimating up to 5.8 million fewer EV sales under the most aggressive option. The West Midlands, the UK's traditional automotive heartland, is now both the site of the fires and the region whose car industry is lobbying for the rollback, tying climate damage directly to the industry benefiting from looser rules.
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