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Transport Decarbonisation
14 July 2021
Lead MP
Grant Shapps
Debate Type
Ministerial Statement
Tags
TaxationTransportClimateForeign AffairsEnergyBusiness & TradeBenefits & Welfare
Other Contributors: 22
At a Glance
Grant Shapps raised concerns about transport decarbonisation in the House of Commons. A government minister responded. Other MPs also contributed.
How the Debate Unfolded
MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said:
Government Statement
TaxationTransportClimateForeign AffairsEnergyBusiness & TradeBenefits & Welfare
Government Statement
The Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps, announced the UK's first comprehensive transport decarbonisation plan, aimed at ending transportation's contribution to climate change by 2050. The strategy includes phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 and fully zero-emission cars and vans by 2035. Key components include investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure (nearly 25,000 public chargers already installed), promotion of sustainable aviation fuels, development of a hydrogen-based rail network, and creation of thousands of clean buses across the country. Additionally, the plan focuses on improving cycling and walking infrastructure through £2 billion funding for over 300 schemes. Shapps emphasised aligning billions in infrastructure investment with net-zero goals and highlighted progress towards green jobs and industrial innovation.
Jim McMahon
Lab
Oldham West
Question
The plan lacks urgency and concrete action to address the climate emergency. There are no specific measures for dealing with last-mile courier delivery vans which have surged in number during the pandemic, nor is there a differentiated approach between self-employed users and large corporations like Amazon.
Minister reply
In response to concerns about van emissions and infrastructure investment disparity, Minister Shapps emphasised ongoing consultations on phasing out non-zero emission vehicles including heavy goods vehicles by 2040. He also highlighted the government's commitment to electrifying its own fleet by 2027 and investing in electric vehicle charging points across all regions of the UK.
Jim McMahon
Lab Co-op
Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton
Question
The MP thanked the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement but criticised it for lacking ambition in addressing transport emissions and the climate emergency. He pointed out that under this Government's tenure, over a million petrol and diesel vans have been added to roads, many used by last-mile courier delivery services like Amazon, despite no action from the government to address this issue. He also highlighted disparities in electric vehicle charging points across different regions of the country and the failure to deliver on promises for green buses and cycling infrastructure.
Minister reply
Grant Shapps responded that while Labour has been critical of the Government's progress in decarbonising transport, under this government significant strides have been made. He cited achievements such as 700 miles of railway electrification compared to 63 miles during Labour’s tenure and noted the launch of a consultation on zero emission vehicle mandates. Shapps also announced that there are currently 25,000 public chargers for electric vehicles along with several hundred thousand private ones. He highlighted the delivery of over 900 green buses towards the target of 4,000 by the end of this Parliament and emphasised ongoing work through the Jet Zero Council.
Gavin Newlands
SNP
Paisley and Renfrewshire North
Question
When the Secretary of State was told that the final draft plan was not ambitious enough, there were hopes that it would match the seriousness of our times. However, Scotland aims to cut car use by 20% by 2030 and spend 10% of transport capital on active travel compared to England's plans which are less ambitious in reducing incentives and infrastructure investment. Will the Secretary of State not match Scotland’s ambition on car use? When will the 4,000 new buses be delivered under the current scheme and when will the next scheme begin? When does the right hon. Gentleman commit to a similar programme for England matching Scotland's pace?
Minister reply
I am keen to work across the House but cannot understand how someone can be proud of reducing car use while also being pro-car chargers. The Scottish Government have missed their own statutory target for reducing emissions for three consecutive years.
Selaine Saxby
Con
North Devon
Question
Will the Secretary of State reassure rural constituents such as those in North Devon that they will not be left behind?
Minister reply
The bus strategy includes £3 billion to get a London-style service for other parts of England, including areas like North Devon where there are fewer buses and longer journeys. We are currently trialling the scheme in 17 different areas.
Jonathan Gullis
Lab
Stoke-on-Trent North
Question
Does my right hon. Friend agree that by reopening the Stoke to Leek line, providing access for upgrades at Longport railway station and ensuring Stoke-on-Trent secures a major piece of funding, we can reduce emissions in our city?
Minister reply
The Stoke to Leek line is something to be passionate about. The competition for the Restoring Your Railway fund will come to a conclusion this summer.
Sarah Olney
Lib Dem
Richmond Park
Question
I did not find a copy of the plan online and see no mention of achieving net zero aviation in 2040. Will reducing flights be part of the plan to reach this goal?
Minister reply
The written statement confirms that domestic aviation will reach net zero by 2040. Aviation accounts for only 1.2% of total CO2 emissions but is a difficult sector to decarbonise. We are working with the Jet Zero Council and developing sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen, and battery technology.
Luke Evans
Con
Hinckley and Bosworth
Question
Will he meet me and people from the midlands engine to discuss how Bosworth, Leicestershire and indeed the country could benefit from both our plans?
Minister reply
I thank my hon. Friend for welcoming the plan and will meet him with the Under-Secretary of State for Transport.
Rachael Maskell
Lab Co-op
York Central
Question
Why are London North Eastern Railway and Network Rail building new car parking spaces in York? Will he meet me to discuss this matter?
Minister reply
We are not anti-car. We believe cars, buses, and bicycles require roads to get around. Good quality roads reduce congestion and environmental damage. I do not want to embarrass the hon. Lady but her party’s manifesto was ‘utterly unachievable’ according to the GMB union.
Andrew Griffith
Con
Arundel and South Downs
Question
Does he agree that it is the work of business providing solutions to these problems, from Jet Zero Council to Electric Avenue? Does he also agree it’s a shame that the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion is not here?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend works hard to push for jet zero, car zero and holds us on the road to zero.
John Spellar
Lab
Warley
Question
The Secretary of State is certainly in Duracell bunny mode today. I share the concern of the shadow Transport Minister about the lack of focus in making transport vehicles in Britain. The Minister talked of new buses, but will the hydrogen-powered buses come from Northern Ireland and the electric-powered ones from Scotland and Leeds, or will the British taxpayer once again be subsidising jobs in China and Europe? That is quite apart from trains, cars, vans and trucks. The Government are a massive customer, so will he use that buying power to boost British industry and support British workers?
Minister reply
This Duracell bunny says yes.
Shrewsbury and Atcham
Question
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, but in this day and age it is wholly unsustainable for Shrewsbury to be serviced by diesel trains, and at the last general election I promised many young people that I would campaign for the electrification of the line between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. He will be pleased to know that all the MPs between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton support that vital investment. We are getting great support from Midlands Connect; Mr Paul Butters and others are being very helpful. The electrification of the line would not only massively reduce journey times between Shrewsbury and our regional capital of Birmingham, but massively reduce carbon emissions. So will the Secretary of State join me and support our campaign to ensure that that vital link between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton is finally electrified?
Minister reply
I congratulate my hon. Friend on his doughty campaign for the electrification of the line from Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton. I know that he has met the Rail Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris), to discuss this subject and I look forward to seeing further progress. I mentioned that we had done 700 miles of electrification in just three years—over 1,100 since we came to power—and I hope that it is coming to him soon.
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
Question
As the Secretary of State outlined in his statement, electric vehicles will be key to decarbonisation. What steps is he taking to address concerns about the vulnerability of charging networks to attacks by hackers?
Minister reply
That is an excellent question. I have been speaking to the energy infrastructure, not only to make sure that it is secure against hackers, but also that we are able to ensure provision, as the number of people buying electric cars continues to increase. It is worth mentioning that one in seven people who bought a car this year bought a car with a plug on the end of it, effectively, so electric vehicles are being used in ever-greater numbers. The question of electricity security, and all our infrastructure security, is also wrapped up in the good work that happens throughout government, and I will ensure that I press the hon. Gentleman’s point home as we have those further discussions as well.
Ben Spencer
Con
Runnymede and Weybridge
Question
I, too, warmly welcome the statement and I look forward to digging in to the plan later. May I pick up on a point around HGVs, because they are incredibly polluting? I have many constituents who live alongside the M25 and the M3, where that is an issue, and they warmly welcome the consultation process in terms of trying to decarbonise HGVs and buses and stop that pollution. Sustainability has to be sustainable, so I can see why there is a need for consultation to ensure that it works and that we do this properly, but as a result of the consultation, will my right hon. Friend really try to push forward as quickly as possible in getting diesel, getting HGVs, off the roads, decarbonising them and making a huge difference to my constituents, for whom that cannot come soon enough?
Minister reply
A small but important sub-clause to my announcement that we will be consulting to outlaw the sale of diesel HGVs by 2040 is that by 2035—five years earlier—we will already have done that for lorries up to 26 tonnes. A 26-tonner is a very considerable size of lorry, so my hon. Friend’s prayers may well be answered much sooner than he fears.
Cat Smith
Lab
Lancaster and Wyre
Question
Poor air quality caused by congestion causes health problems and costs lives. This is a particular problem for my constituents in the village of Galgate, which has the A6 running down the middle of it. Will the Secretary of State look favourably on plans to reconfigure junction 33 of the M6 to create a bypass for the village? Regardless of that, there will still be buses running through the village. I note that the Secretary of State said that some zero-emission buses were in production, but does he admit that his target of 4,000 is unambitious, when that represents only about one tenth of the English fleet?
Minister reply
The hon. Lady will be pleased to hear that, if anything, we are ahead of schedule on the bus target, with 900 already on their way—in production—so I hope that we can go even further. Our £3 billion bus strategy is by far and away the largest for generations, and I look forward to it helping her constituents. I will certainly mention her point about junction 33 of the A6 to the Roads Minister and ask her to come back to the hon. Lady.
Martin Vickers
Con
Brigg and Immingham
Question
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Decarbonising our roads will be greatly assisted if we transfer more freight to rail. What progress is being made on delivering an east-west rail freight corridor from the Humber ports across to Liverpool and the west coast ports? As well as being a boost to the economy of my constituency, that would result in a massive reduction in HGV movements on the M62, resulting in less congestion and the accompanying pollution.
Minister reply
I am very excited about the opportunities to take traffic from ports and put it on to rail. It is known as intermodal, because it requires the delivery of gauge capacity enhancements in order to make that flow. We are spending a lot of time on getting containers, biomass and the like to operate on the trans-Pennine routes, principally between the west and east coast ports of Liverpool, Immingham and Hull, and Tees inland terminal. We are working very hard on exactly my hon. Friend’s suggestion, as we recognise that it can take a lot of traffic off the roads.
Stephen Flynn
SNP
Aberdeen South
Question
Key to the successful decarbonisation of transportation will, of course, be the availability of sustainable fuels. In that regard, in Aberdeen the Scottish Government and the local authority have put their money where their mouth is and backed Scotland’s first commercial at-scale hydrogen production and distribution facility. Sadly, the UK Government have not committed a single penny towards the Aberdeen hydrogen hub. In that regard and in good faith, can I ask the Secretary of State whether he will review that decision—with a view, of course, to opening the cheque book and backing Aberdeen’s renewable future?
Minister reply
I am pleased to say that we have in many senses backed this, because we are of course ensuring that the consequentials from all our decisions, including decisions on the decarbonisation of transport, are made in such a way that the Government in Scotland are able to benefit from them. As I mentioned earlier, it is very good to work closely together on these things. Perhaps in that spirit, I can ask the hon. Gentleman to press the Scottish Government to ensure that they reach their statutory requirements to deliver carbon cuts over the next few years as well.
Theresa Villiers
Con
Chipping Barnet
Question
Does the Secretary of State agree that to tackle climate change, we need to decarbonise—not demonise—cars, vans and taxis? With that in mind, will he talk to the Mayor of London about dismantling some of the schemes that have unjustifiably removed access to those vehicles to so many of the streets of central London?
Minister reply
My right hon. Friend is absolutely right about our stance. We are not against the car. We want people to have access to cars; indeed, in rural areas they are often the only way for people to get around, although obviously we want to improve bus services and the rest of it. We intend to carry on investment to make sure that cars can run without damaging people’s health and the environment. That makes sense.
I am afraid that too often the Mayor of London gets the wrong end of the stick with all this. He seems to spend his time working out new ways to introduce boundary taxes and the like to try to charge people who are not his constituents for the cost of running his administration in London. It is not on.
Barry Sheerman
Lab
Huddersfield
Question
The Secretary of State probably will not know that I am very much involved in the Optimised Waste Logistics group and the Westminster Commission for Road Air Quality, but does he know, as I do from consultation with the industry, that the people in it think the report is not ambitious enough? Since the report was leaked, or came out, they have had a good idea what is in it, but they want to move much faster. The technology is there, especially for heavy goods vehicles, which are 4% of the wheels on the road but 25% of the pollution. The industry is saying to Ministers, “We can do it faster.” Hydrogen technology is far more advanced than the Secretary of State has been saying today. If he gives industry the nod and the incentives, it can deliver much better targets than 2030 or 2040.
Minister reply
I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s enthusiasm for this agenda and his work on logistics and clean air. As far as I am aware, this is already the world’s most ambitious plan to decarbonise the transport economy. He will be pleased to hear that I will say more about experimentation with things like hydrogen trucks and electrifying trucks, not just with internal batteries but potentially with overhead wires.
I hope he will agree that rather than coming here today to spring an announcement on the HGV sector, it is absolutely right that we make it clear we have a plan and that we then consult on it. That is why Logistics UK, which is far and away the largest haulier logistics representative organisation in the UK, has said that the plan gives
“confidence and clarity on the steps…on the pathway to net zero”.
Bob Blackman
Con
Harrow East
Question
I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Will he go further on what we will do to ensure a sustainable maritime fleet, for example by ensuring that around our coastal communities there is opportunity for plug-in processes for boats and ships, particularly for fishing around our coastal waters? In the long-term, will he look at alternative fuels that can power the long-distance fleets?
Minister reply
That is very much at the forefront of our mind; I thank my hon. Friend for his comments and for welcoming the statement. We already have plans in place to challenge stakeholders to agree a course to zero in maritime by 2050. The UK has a very rich maritime history. The International Maritime Organisation is based in London, although it is a UN organisation, and we have been working closely with it on developing the shipping route to zero. We look forward to a lot more developments in the area, and I look forward to working with my hon. Friend on them.
Janet Daby
Lab
Lewisham East
Question
We know that the aviation industry has had a very difficult year and that the best way to build back better is to ensure investment into building planes that are greener, cleaner and quieter. Does the Secretary of State agree that for a future that benefits public health, his Department must prioritise reducing noise pollution from major flight paths? It is a real concern for many of my constituents, who live under two flight paths. Will he meet me to look at the issue?
Minister reply
I absolutely agree that reducing noise pollution is critical. We are doing it in several ways. We have just passed legislation that redesigns airspace management and enables aircraft to take off on a steeper climb and come down on a steeper descent, which will help to reduce the noise footprint. New technologies leading to much quieter aircraft are also being developed. I am happy to set up a meeting for her with the aviation Minister to discuss the matter further.
Caroline Johnson
Con
Sleaford and North Hykeham
Question
I strongly welcome the range of measures being taken to decarbonise transport. However, in highly rural areas, there is simply no practical alternative to car use. With electric vehicles remaining prohibitive for many due to cost and a lack of local charging infrastructure, what assurances can my right hon. Friend provide that constituents’ needs have been fully considered?
Minister reply
£1.8 billion has been allocated: £582 million for plug-in vehicle grants and £1.3 billion for the roll-out of charging infrastructure. We are also trialling wireless technology to ensure cars can charge up even as they drive or while parked, and pointing to the national bus strategy which could assist in her area.
Shadow Comment
Jim McMahon
Shadow Comment
The shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Jim McMahon, criticised the Government's transport decarbonisation plan as inadequate and lacking urgency. He pointed out that under this administration, there has been a significant increase in petrol and diesel vans, highlighting the absence of measures to address last-mile courier delivery vehicles. McMahon also noted the disparity in electric vehicle charging point distribution, with London having more points than the entirety of northern England and the Midlands combined. Further criticisms included insufficient modal shift investment, bus route reductions, and high ticket prices on buses and trains. The shadow Secretary urged for a genuine commitment to active travel safety, targeted sectoral decarbonisation measures for aviation, and fair fare pricing for commuters.
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