The government will relax mandatory quotas for electric cars after Nissan warned that excessively high targets and punitive fines were a risk to the Japanese company’s manufacturing in Sunderland, Britain’s biggest automotive plant.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, told The Times after a meeting with Nissan that “a substantial change of policy” had been agreed and added: “We will do everything we can to make sure Nissan has that secure long-term future in the UK, making sure the business and regulatory environment reflects that.”
Reynolds said that the policy change had the support of Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, who has pushed for ambitious regulation to reduce carbon emissions. It will be seen as another defeat for Miliband, however, after indications that the government could
