Cabinet Reshuffle
Earlier in the week, the British Prime Minister, The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP, carried out the second cabinet reshuffle of his premiership. The big headlines were surrounding the Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary positions, with Suella Braverman being replaced by James Cleverly as Home Secretary and a shock return to the frontbench for David Cameron who now takes the position of Foreign Secretary.
For the automotive industry, there was a change in personnel at key departments working with the NFDA – The Department for Transport (DfT) and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).
DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT
|
Ministerial Role |
New Role Holder |
Responsibilities |
|
PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE |
ANTHONY BROWNE MP (House of Commons) |
Decarbonisation: Transport Decarbonisation, Air quality, Technology (autonomous vehicles and e-scooters) |
|
PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE |
GUY OPPERMAN MP (House of Commons) |
Roads: roads maintenance and infrastructure delivery (including National Highways), motoring agencies (DVLA, DVSA, VCA) |
|
PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE |
LORD DAVIES OF GOWER (House of Lords) |
Legislation: Primary legislation in the lords, Secondary legislation (including retained EU law) |
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS AND TRADE
|
Ministerial Role |
New Role Holder |
Responsibilities |
|
MINISTER OF STATE |
THE RT HON GREG HANDS MP (House of Commons) |
Pending |
Criminal Justice Bill
The Criminal Justice Bill was introduced to Parliament on 14 November by James Cleverly and was touted in the King’s speech as one of the measures the Government would work on during this current Parliamentary session.
Interestingly, Clause 3 of the Bill includes wording regarding the use of electronic devices in vehicle thefts. Notably, the wording is as follows:
“Electronic devices for use in vehicle theft proposes new offences to possess, import, make, adapt, supply or offer to supply an electronic device for use in vehicle theft”.
It is believed this has been introduced to target a surge in vehicle thefts which have involved the use of keyless technology.
Public Accounts Committee (PAC) – Report release - Support for innovation to deliver net zero
This week PAC released their review of government's strategic approach to meeting the target of net-zero by 2050 and its assessment of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ) outlook when progressing with this deadline. Included in the document are the following statements:
“Despite the long-term aim of meeting net zero by 2050, the net zero innovation delivery plan focuses largely on the period 2022 to 2025. When designing the Framework, the Government did not consider in its analysis what level of longer-term public sector investment might be required up to 2050 to support the delivery of the innovation challenge areas.
The report goes on to explain how DESNZ explained that there is less certainty about the pathway to 2050 and it is “not right to plan everything now into the 2030s and 2040s”. The Treasury told the committee that it could “not say what the world is going to be like in 15 years”, adding that it will use the next spending review as an opportunity to reassess the “next set of spending plans” in support of the Government’s net zero strategy. This will be important given the government’s announcement in September 2023 to delay the phasing out of new fossil fuel vehicles.”
