One of the key issues of this year's General Election is the environment. Climate change is the fifth-most important issue, according to YouGov research, and is likely to be a major voting factor on July 4. The major parties all have plans for the environment in their manifestos.
While these include some similarities, such as a form of windfall tax on oil and gas companies until 2029, the phasing out of carbonised electricity, and ramping up electric car sales, there are also differences regarding gas central heating and renewable energy sources, such as onshore wind. We looked at the latest environment figures in Bolton ahead of the General Election. Electric Vehicles Labour said it will "support the transition to electric vehicles" and reinstate the ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, a position echoed by the Liberal Democrats.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previously pushed the ban back to 2035. The Reform Party said it would eradicate the ban entirely, while the Green Party said new sales should be banned by 2027, with petrol and diesel cars removed from the UK's roads entirely by 2035. The push towards electric has been felt in Bolton, with 2,923 electric vehicles registered in the area by the end of 2023 – a significant rise on the 380 registered when the Tories were re-elected in 2019.
Across the UK, the number of licenced electric vehicles has rocketed from 265,000 in 2019 to 1.6 million last year. The figures include private and company cars, vans, bu.
