Drivers set for £700m EV charm offensive
Automotive bosses have been waiting for details of the government's next steps to reduce the cost of buying an electric vehicle outside a company car scheme. Last month's spending review set aside £1.4 billion 'to support the continued uptake of electric vehicles, including vans and HGVs'.
It is understood an announcement may be made this week that up to £700 million of this will be used for subsidies or grants to reduce purchase costs. Whitehall sources cautioned that the plans have yet to be signed off.
If the ideas win approval, it would give an EV financial incentive to everyday motorists for the first time since the plug-in grant ended in 2022.
The government is also allocating £25 million to help home-charging for households without driveways. Gullies will be cut into footways to allow cables to run safely beneath paving slabs. This means cars parked on the street can be charged at home. Some 20,000 of these are scheduled to be rolled out between now and the end of 2026.
Ministers also want to incentivise businesses to make the change. Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, will on Sunday unveil a £30 million package to pay for thousands of charge points at delivery depots, paving the way for millions of groceries and goods deliveries to be made by zero-emission vehicles.
'We are making it easier and cheaper for British businesses to go electric,' Alexander said. 'This investment will position Britain as a global leader in electric freight, supporting cleaner vans and lorries and cutting business costs to transition to zero emission. With more than 1.4 million electric vehicles already on our roads, we're backing our logistics sector to cut pollution and drive jobs and investment across the UK.'
Ashwin Prasad, the chief executive of Tesco UK, said the grocer had been rolling out electric vans and trialling electric-powered lorries 'but there is still more work to do to reach our target of carbon neutrality across our own operations by 2035'. 'This scheme is an important step in ensuring the industry has the charging infrastructure needed to continue the electrification of our transport operations,' he said.
We are making it easier and cheaper for British businesses to go electric,' Alexander said. 'This investment will position Britain as a global leader in electric freight, supporting cleaner vans and lorries and cutting business costs to transition to zero emission. With more than 1.4 million electric vehicles already on our roads, we're backing our logistics sector to cut pollution and drive jobs and investment across the UK.'
Ashwin Prasad, the chief executive of Tesco UK, said the grocer had been rolling out electric vans and trialling electric-powered lorries 'but there is still more work to do to reach our target of carbon neutrality across our own operations by 2035'. 'This scheme is an important step in ensuring the industry has the charging infrastructure needed to continue the electrification of our transport operations,' he said.
Chris Ashley, from trade body the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said: 'Quite simply without the ability to charge at depot we are not going to see the introduction of electric HGVs, coaches and vans at the pace required.'
Electric car sales rose 39.1 per cent to 47,354 units in June, with one in four buyers going electric, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. This is still below the minimum mandated level, which stipulates that 28 per cent of new car sales and 16 per cent of new van sales should be zero emission this year.
Currently drivers can benefit from generous tax breaks if an electric car is bought on a company scheme. However, this benefit is not available universally.
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The Guardian
19 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Tread carefully with reform of bank ringfencing, chancellor
Rachel Reeves called it 'the biggest set of reforms to financial regulation in a decade', and, in one narrow sense, her Leeds Reforms would qualify for the description. If the ringfencing regime for banks were to be scrapped, we really would be entering a new era – or going back to an old one, since the separation of banks' retail and investment banking activities was the single biggest regulatory change introduced after the 2008-09 crash to try to prevent another blow-up. Reeves on Tuesday, however, merely announced a review to look at how reforms to ringfencing could 'strike the right balance between growth and stability, including protecting consumer deposits'. One hopes that does not mean outright abolition, which is what banks such as HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest have been urging on the grounds that the rules trap capital and impede growth. The stout defence of ringfencing from Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England, has always felt more compelling: the regime has made banks safer and removal would increase the cost of loans and mortgages. It would surely be hard for a chancellor to override the Bank on this core question, especially when Barclays – which, in theory, might have most to gain from abolition as it has the largest investment bank – is also in the defence camp. A fudged outcome would see more activities allowed within the ringfenced entity. It is technical stuff, but also deeply important. Get it wrong and the cautious voices sounding the alarm over a government in search of a sugar-rush of growth via financial deregulation would have a point. Tread carefully, chancellor: ditching ringfencing in its entirety risks unlearning the lessons of the last crisis. In other respects, however, Reeves's red tape-slashing, investment-boosting, obstacle-removing reforms can be criticised in the other direction: yes, some changes are sensible tidying-up exercises but others are underwhelming. Take the showbiz headliner: the advertising campaign to encourage over-cautious savers to push a few quid into the stock market. The goal is admirable in itself for the reasons the Treasury gives: savers are doing themselves long-term financial harm if they do not understand that shares beat cash over most long-term periods. • Looser mortgage rules, which allow lenders to provide bigger mortgages worth more than 4.5 times borrowers' annual income. The move could help another 36,000 first-time buyers per year, according to the Bank of England • A permanent government-backed mortgage guarantee scheme, in which taxpayers will pick up the bill when a borrower defaults, in an effort to encourage participating banks to offer more 91-95% mortgages • A government-backed but industry-funded advertising campaign to encourage consumers to invest their cash savings in shares • Plans to allow banks to send information about 'investment opportunities' to savers that have cash sitting in low interest rate accounts, encouraging them to shift money to stocks and shares • A fresh review of ringfencing rules which were introduced after the 2008 financial crisis in order to protect consumer cash from a bank's riskier activities • A review of warnings attached to investment products to ensure that people are 'accurately' judging risk levels • Plans to 'radically streamline' accountability rules for senior bankers and finance bosses • Reining in the powers of the Financial Ombudsman Service, which settles complaints between consumers and businesses • Cutting the rate of interest – and therefore total compensation – paid out to consumers wronged by City firms and imposing a 10-year limit for claims • A new 'concierge service' to court international investors and create a one-stop-shop to promote the UK and provide tailored support to help businesses plan where to invest. But it's not as if the Treasury itself is doing much more than cheering from the wings. The ad campaign will be funded by the industry, which presumably could have launched the thing itself without government endorsement. At the very least, Reeves could have given the volunteers a hand by abolishing stamp duty on shares for purchases within ISAs. Even that gentle step was conspicuous by its absence. Tweaking risk-warning messaging may help at the margins. So will better access for retail investors to corporate debt and corporate fund-raising, as announced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). But if Reeves is truly alarmed (as she should be) by the statistic that the UK has the lowest level of retail investment in the G7 group of rich economies, bolder measures are needed. It could take a generation to change saving habits to encourage 'informed risk-taking' but the crisis in the London stock market is happening now. Stamp duty remains the drag in the background, and is the real test of the Treasury's seriousness. Elsewhere, several reforms look justified: help for 'challenger' banks on capital rules; some loosening of rules to help first-time buyers; a trimming of the size of the authorisation regime for bank senior managers in the interest of efficiency; changes to allow the London Stock Exchange to quote dollar- and euro-denominated shares. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion A third pot of policies are straightforward lobbying victories for the City. That lot includes the neutering of the financial ombudsman service, but the banks may have had a point about the body acting as a 'quasi regulator' within the FCA. The timing of the reform looks terrible while the unresolved car finance affair rumbles on, but the regulatory setup did look basically confused. The onus now falls on the FCA to act sooner to spot looming scandals, which is not a wholly reassuring thought. But let's not overstate the significance of the Mansion House speech. Yes, the financial services industry deserves its place as one of the eight growth-driving sectors within the government's overall industry strategy; it's too big to ignore. But, despite some of the rhetoric, it's not as if the City is currently being strangled by regulation in the way that purer industrial sectors are being hampered by high energy costs. So don't go overboard on ringfencing reform: it is the bit that matters the most.
Glasgow Times
21 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Schools told to make sex education ‘stage appropriate' as age limit plans axed
The Labour Government has recommended that primary schools teach sex education in Year 5 or Year 6, in line with what pupils learn about conception and birth, but it is not compulsory. Primary school teachers may decide to discuss the sharing of naked images or online sexual content if it is affecting their pupils and they know that children have seen pornography, according to the final statutory Government guidance on relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) in schools. Proposals to impose strict age limits on topics in the RSHE curriculum, proposed by the previous Conservative government, will not go ahead. Draft guidance, published in May last year under the Conservatives, had suggested sex education should be taught no earlier than Year 5. It had proposed for issues like sexual harassment, revenge porn, upskirting and sexual exploitation and abuse to not be taught before Year 7 (age 11), and for explicit discussion of sexual violence, including rape and sexual assault, to not take place before Year 9 (age 13). The draft guidance also said schools should not teach pupils about the concept of 'gender identity'. The final guidance on RSHE, which has been published a year after a consultation over the draft Conservative guidance closed, has not assigned specific ages to certain RSHE topics. Instead, it said schools should develop the RSHE curriculum to be 'relevant, age and stage appropriate and accessible to pupils in their area'. The Government guidance, published on Tuesday, said pupils should be taught the facts and the law about biological sex and gender reassignment. But on the debate around biological sex and gender reassignment, it told schools to be 'careful not to endorse any particular view or teach it as fact'. It said schools should avoid materials that use cartoons or diagrams that 'oversimplify' the topic, or which 'encourage pupils to question their gender'. The Department for Education (DfE) has said revised guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children is due to be published this summer. In her foreword to the updated RSHE guidance, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: 'The depth and breadth of views is clear, and there are understandable and legitimate areas of contention. 'Our guiding principles have been that all of the compulsory subject content must be age appropriate and developmentally appropriate. 'It must be taught sensitively and inclusively, with respect to the backgrounds and beliefs of pupils and parents while always with the aim of providing pupils with the knowledge they need of the law.' When asked about removing the plans for strict age limits for sex education, Ms Phillipson told the BBC: 'I think what parents want to know is that they'll be able to see what's being taught. 'There sometimes can be occasions where it's necessary to broach a topic a little bit sooner in response to something that might have happened within the school, but parents would be informed and involved on that.' The guidance said pupils should be given the opportunity to discuss the sexual norms endorsed by so-called 'involuntary celibates' (incels) or online influencers by the end of secondary school. It added that secondary school pupils should be taught about the prevalence of 'deepfakes' and how pornography can portray 'misogynistic' attitudes and it can present harmful activities as normal. Students should be taught that strangulation – applying pressure to someone's neck – is a criminal offence regardless of whether it causes injury. The guidance has also advised secondary schools to work closely with mental health professionals to discuss suicide prevention in an age-appropriate way. It added that schools should continue to share RSHE curriculum materials with parents on request. Since September 2020, relationships and sex education has been compulsory in secondary schools in England, while relationships education has been compulsory in primary schools. In March 2023, then-prime minister Rishi Sunak brought forward a review of RSHE guidance for schools after hearing concerns that children were being exposed to 'inappropriate' content. Schools in England will have to follow the statutory RSHE guidance from September 2026. Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'We are pleased to see that there are no age 'limits' included in this new guidance. 'Schools already work hard to ensure that teaching is age-appropriate and this approach gives them the vital flexibility to respond to their own community and the needs of pupils in their schools.' But he added: 'NAHT has particular concerns that the inclusion of suicide prevention content has not been accompanied by a commitment from the Government to provide funded training for all teachers to give them both the knowledge and the confidence they need to discuss suicide prevention and self-harm with young people. 'The provision of training is vital before this content becomes statutory and it is unacceptable that the guidance simply says that schools should work with mental health professionals to discuss how this sensitive content should be tackled in the classroom.' Margaret Mulholland, Send and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: 'We welcome the clarity over biological sex and gender reassignment in the guidance. 'There are strongly held and sometimes polarised views over these issues and it is important to have a clear set of national guidelines to follow. 'We hope soon to see specific guidance on supporting gender questioning children – something for which we have been calling for several years.' She added: 'We also welcome the focus on suicide prevention and pay tribute to campaigners for their work on highlighting this issue and the risks to young people. 'Schools already have a great deal of experience in supporting the wellbeing of pupils – and many have seen a rising number of young people struggling with their mental health in recent years. 'Unfortunately, there is still not enough external support available and we would like to see more work done to ensure that young people can access specialist services in a timely manner.' Laura Mackay, chief executive officer of LGBT+ young people's charity Just Like Us, said: 'Some teachers still struggle to discuss LGBT+ topics with their pupils. So it's good to see the new RSHE guidance strongly encouraging primary schools to teach about diverse families, including same-sex parents. 'However, there are aspects of the new guidance that could make teachers feel even more anxious about what they can do or say to support all LGBT+ young people. 'If schools treat gender identity as something that is taboo, trans and gender diverse young people across the UK will feel further alienated and unsafe at school.'
Leader Live
21 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Britain cannot grow without ‘fighting fit' finance sector, Rachel Reeves says
Ms Reeves, delivering her annual Mansion House speech to the financial services sector, said changes were needed for the UK to stay competitive in a more uncertain global economy. 'Today, I have placed financial services at the heart of the Government's growth mission, recognising that Britain cannot succeed and meet its growth ambitions without a financial services sector that is fighting fit and thriving,' she told the attendees. She said the Government was delivering on its pledge, made at last year's Mansion House speech, to 'regulate for growth and not just for risk'. The Treasury announced a package of reforms on Tuesday aimed at attracting more investment to the UK, and among individual consumers, to help grow the economy. Ms Reeves said this involves 'rolling back regulation that has gone too far in seeking to eliminate risk', with plans to cut red tape in the City and reform banking rules including the ring-fencing regime. The UK is currently an outlier in forcing banks to separate their retail and investment banking activities, so reforms are hoped to make Britain more competitive globally. Ms Reeves also highlighted efforts to boost retail investment which she said is currently presented 'in a negative light, quick to warn people of the risks without giving proper weight to the benefits'. Plans include potentially changing the language of risk warnings on investment products to encourage more people, particularly women, to take the leap. The Leeds Reforms – named after one of our financial services' hubs and a city I'm proud to represent – will deliver the biggest package of reforms to financial services regulation in a decade. Kickstarting economic growth and putting more pounds in people's pockets. — Rachel Reeves (@RachelReevesMP) July 15, 2025 Furthermore, the Chancellor said new powers to mandate pension funds to invest in UK assets were 'sending a clear signal' that the Government and industry want to deliver higher returns for savers and more investment for the economy. 'But I am confident that I will not need to use that power because firms see the urgency and importance of this as clearly as I do,' she said. The 'Leeds reforms', unveiled in the West Yorkshire city, are set to be the biggest set of reforms to financial services for more than a decade, according to the Government. But the Chancellor concluded her speech by saying: 'As I look ahead, it is clear that we must do more. 'In too many areas, regulation still acts as a boot on the neck of businesses, choking off the enterprise and innovation that is the lifeblood of growth. 'Regulators in other sectors must take up the call I make this evening not to bend to the temptation of excessive caution but to boldly regulate for growth in the service of prosperity across our country.'
