Green Party deputy leader welcomes electric Mini launch

Amelia Womack, deputy leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, has welcomed today’s launch of the first battery electric production Mini in Oxford.

She said: “It is clear that the future of motorised transport has to be fossil fuel-free. In the UK we’ve been left far behind countries whose governments have pushed further and farther in this age of climate emergency, but this is a step forward.

“We need to see our infrastructure – charging points and renewable electricity generation – also catching up with the best continental standards.

“But it is crucial that while we celebrate this progress, we also acknowledge that an electric car occupies exactly the same amount of space on the road as one powered by an internal combustion engine. 

"Its negative environmental impacts are also significant – particulate pollution from tyres and brakes, loss of space in our cities and congestion.

“The future of transport is founded on ‘active’ transport, walking and cycling, and for longer distance built on affordable, convenient, reliable public transport, particularly buses.

“One-for-one replacement is neither possible, nor desirable.”