SALES of new petrol and diesel cars and vans will be phased out by 2030, Boris Johnson has confirmed, as he set out his 10-point plan for a “green industrial revolution” that will create 250,000 jobs.

The Prime Minister insisted his new strategy would be built around the UK’s industrial heartlands, including Scotland, to level up opportunity and “build back greener” following the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic.

He highlighted the potential of £12 billion of new public investment being matched by more than three times this amount by the private sector.

As he looked towards the international COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow next November, Mr Johnson said: “Although this year has taken a very different path to the one we expected, I haven’t lost sight of our ambitious plans to level up across the country.

“My 10-point plan will create, support and protect hundreds of thousands of green jobs whilst making strides towards net zero by 2050.

“Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales, so we can look ahead to a more prosperous, greener future,” he declared.

Iain Stewart, the Scotland Office Minister, added: “The Prime Minister’s 10-point plan puts Scotland at the heart of the UK Government’s commitment to delivering net zero by 2050.

“We are going to build back greener from the pandemic. At the COP26 summit in Glasgow next November we will show the world how we are leading on renewable energy, clean growth and tackling climate change.”

But Ed Miliband for Labour warned that the funding in the long-awaited announcement did “not remotely meet the scale of what is needed to tackle the unemployment emergency and climate emergency we are facing and pales in comparison to the tens of billions committed by France and Germany”.

The Shadow Business Secretary went on: "Only a fraction of the funding announced today is new. We don't need rebadged funding pots and reheated pledges but an ambitious plan that meets the scale of the task we are facing and - crucially - creates jobs now.

"That's why Labour called for the Government to bring forward £30bn of capital investment over the next 18 months and invest it in low-carbon sectors now as part of a rapid stimulus package to support 400,000 additional jobs. Make no mistake,” he added, “this announcement from the Government falls well short of what is required."

The IPPR think-tank said the Government’s commitment to a 2030 phase out for new petrol and diesel vehicles was a “key milestone on the road to net zero” but pointed out its analysis showed the Government was currently only investing a little over a tenth of the funds needed to meet net zero and restore nature. “What is being announced today will not bridge the gap,” it warned.

Greenpeace UK said Mr Johnson’s landmark announcement signalled the “end of the road for polluting cars and vans and a historic turning point on climate action”.

While it made clear switching to electric vehicles was no panacea, ditching new polluting petrol and diesel in 2030 could put the Government back on track to meeting its climate commitments.

It added: “It’s a shame the Prime Minister remains fixated on other speculative solutions such as nuclear and hydrogen from fossil fuels, that will not be taking us to zero emissions anytime soon, if ever. But although there are some significant question marks and gaps, overall, this is a big step forward for tackling the climate emergency.”

The 10-point plan is -

1. Offshore wind: producing enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we produce to 40GW by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs.

2. Hydrogen: working with industry aiming to generate 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.

3. Nuclear: advancing nuclear as a clean energy source, across large scale nuclear and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors, which could support 10,000 jobs.

4. Electric vehicles: backing the UK’s world-leading car manufacturing bases including in the West Midlands, North East and North Wales to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and transforming the country’s national infrastructure to better support electric vehicles.

5. Public transport, cycling and walking: making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport of the future.

6. Jet Zero and greener maritime: supporting difficult-to-decarbonise industries to become greener through research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.

7. Homes and public buildings: making our homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, whilst creating 50,000 jobs by 2030, and a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.

8. Carbon capture: becoming a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber today.

9. Nature: protecting and restoring our natural environment, planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year while creating and retaining thousands of jobs.

10. Innovation and finance: developing the cutting-edge technologies needed to reach these new energy ambitions and make the City of London the global centre of green finance.

To deliver on six points of the plan, the PM has announced new investment, including -

*Carbon capture: to “revitalise the birthplaces of the first industrial revolution,” the UK will be at the global forefront of carbon capture, usage and storage technology, benefiting regions with industries that are particularly difficult to decarbonise.

An extra £200 million of new funding to create two carbon capture clusters by the mid-2020s with another two set to be created by 2030. This increased the total invested to £1bn, helping to support 50,000 jobs, potentially in areas such as Grangemouth, the Humber, Teesside, Merseyside and Port Talbot.

*Hydrogen: up to £500m, including for trialling homes using hydrogen for heating and cooking, starting with a Hydrogen Neighbourhood in 2023, moving to a Hydrogen Village by 2025, with an aim for a Hydrogen Town – equivalent to tens of thousands of homes – before the end of the decade. Of this funding, £240m will go into new hydrogen production facilities.

*Nuclear: £525m to help develop large and smaller-scale nuclear plants and research and develop new advanced modular reactors.

*Electric vehicles: following extensive consultation with car manufacturers and sellers, Mr Johnson confirmed that the UK would end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, 10 years earlier than planned. However, the UK Government will allow the sale of hybrid cars and vans that can drive a significant distance with no carbon coming out of the tailpipe until 2035.

The Government pointed out the UK car industry already manufactured a significant proportion of electric vehicles in Europe, including one of the most popular models in the world.

To support this acceleration, the PM announced:

*£1.3bn to accelerate the roll-out of charge-points for electric vehicles in homes, streets and on motorways across England, so people can more easily and conveniently charge their cars;

*£582m in grants for those buying zero or ultra-low emission vehicles to make them cheaper to buy and incentivise more people to make the transition;

*nearly £500m to be spent in the next four years for the development and mass-scale production of electric vehicle batteries as part of the Government’s commitment to provide up to £1bn, boosting international investment into our strong manufacturing bases including in the Midlands and North East.

UK ministers are also to launch a consultation on the phase out of new diesel HGVs to put the UK in the vanguard of zero emission freight. However, no date has been set yet.

There will be £1bn investment next year into making new and existing homes and public buildings more efficient, extending the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme by a year and making public sector buildings greener and cutting bills for hospitals and schools, as part of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

Some £20m will be used for a competition to develop clean maritime technology such as feasibility studies on key sites, including Orkney and Teesside.

This follows ambitious plans to make the UK the world leader in clean wind energy and plans for greater protections for England’s iconic landscapes and the creation of new national parks as set out by the PM over the last few weeks.

Other key parts of the plan will be driven forward by significant investment set out over the last year, including the £1 billion energy innovation fund to stay ahead of the latest technologies needed to reach new energy targets, £5bn for alternative greener ways of travel including cycling, walking, and buses, and £5.2bn to create for new flood and coastal defences in England by 2027.

The Government stressed that these new commitments supported by Treasury funding would send a clear signal to industries across the British economy to invest in the UK. Today, Mr Johnson will host a virtual roundtable with green investors to set out his ambitious plan and incentivise further private sector investment.

This, the PM insisted, marked the beginning of the UK’s path to net zero, with further plans to reduce emissions whilst creating jobs to follow over the next year in the run up to the international COP26 climate summit in Glasgow next year.