The British government has pledged to stick with a ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to reassure electric car companies and investors after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared to waver on the policy in recent days. Sunak refused to make a ban in July when broadcasters asked about it, and another minister, Andrew Mitchell, also questioned the deadline. But Housing Secretary Michael Gove said "yes" on July 25 when asked by Times Radio if the length of the ban was immovable. However, Gove advised the government to review the pace of introducing low-carbon home heating systems such as heat pumps rather than gas boilers. Asked about the policy of requiring all new homes to use such systems from 2025, Gove told Times Radio that this was one area " Now  company need to look at again” but stressed that new homes "should meet the network by zero standards".

Sunak  faced increased pressure from members of his own Conservative Party to scale back his pledge to decarbonise Britain's grid by 2050 after last week's snap election  in which the Tories won a surprise victory  after campaigning against Labour. local restrictions on vehicle emissions. The Conservatives have trailed the main opposition party by  around 20 points in recent polls, and some MPs have described environmental policy as a drag on the Tories' fortunes amid a cost-of-living crisis.

 A ban on patrol cars from 2030 has been in the sights of some  of the party's right-wing Tory opponents, although Gove's comments appear to have hampered his bid to push back the deadline. This could ease the concerns of electric car companies that the government is trying to attract to the UK. The 2030 ban - as well as  generous government subsidies - formed the backdrop to Tata Group's decision last week to build a new £4bn (USD 5.16 Billion) electric car battery factory in the UK. The government is trying to encourage more companies to build so-called "gigafactories" in the UK.

The government's 2025 new home heating mandate  aims to increase the heat pump market  to around 600,000 installations per year by 2028. The government also aims for new heating systems installed in all homes to have a lower carbon content from 2035 - that is, for gas boilers that can at least be converted to use hydrogen.