Tony Blair’s Labour government made a mistake in promoting diesel cars as they are now “killing people”, former science minister Lord Drayson has said.
In 2001, the then Chancellor Gordon Brown introduced lower vehicle tax for diesel cars, on the grounds that they were less polluting.
That tax break remains in place today.
Lord Drayson, whose own business invests in clean energy, now wants the current government to act to change driver behaviour again.
He served in several ministerial roles between 2005 and 2010 and was the science minister from 2008 to 2010 in Gordon Brown’s government.
His comments will alarm further drivers of diesel engine cars, many of whom bought them in the first place in the belief they were less damaging to the environment.
However Lord Drayson, who has raced electric cars, says we now have a much better understanding of the effects of diesel car emissions.
He is calling for an incentive scrappage scheme to allow diesel owners to switch to electric or hybrid vehicles.(Rory Cellan-Jones)
Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34407670
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