The push to electric vehicles is not about a culture war. It is a simple choice. Do we set UK industry up to take advantage of the changes that are coming? Or do we sit it out, allowing our competitors to lap us while we decide whether to change our tyres or not?

The previous government, including the current leader of the opposition, might have been content to play politics with people’s jobs by delaying the deadline for ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. But this government is not.

Before that, we had been making good progress on the 2030 deadline and the electric vehicle mandate was broadly supported by industry. More than two-thirds of car manufacturers in the UK had already committed to fully transitioning to electric vehicles by 2030 and investments had started to pour in to build electric vehicles here at home.

But the decision to delay the transition came at a huge cost for companies that were already preparing to meet the 2030 deadline and delivered a huge blow to our credibility, risking investment, jobs and growth.

This government is clear-eyed about the fact that if we want to keep the auto industry alive in the UK, then we must provide investors with certainty and confidence, instead of shifting the goalposts.

Growing up in Sunderland, home of the Nissan factory, I know first-hand how important the automotive........

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