MAG hammers home ICE Ban opposition with Minister

News from the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG)

MAG hammers home ICE Ban opposition with Minister

Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) Chair, Neil Liversidge, met Minister of
State (Decarbonisation and Technology) Jesse Norman yesterday. With
resistance to the ICE ban growing in Europe, MAG hammered home the
message that the Government should abandon its plan to ban the sale of
new ICE vehicles in the UK from 2030. Instead, MAG is presenting a
radical alternative that will massively improve transport connectivity
to unify the UK, improve air quality, and reduce emissions, whilst at
the same time strengthening our country economically.

MAG National Chairman Neil Liversidge and MAG’s Director of Campaigns &
Political Engagement, Colin Brown, met Jesse Norman at the Transport
Department HQ yesterday. Neil and Colin hammered home the scale of the
mistake the UK Government will be making if it mandates the end of
internal combustion engined vehicles (ICEVs) as planned from 2030.

Key points they highlighted included –

• Why MAG’s alternative plan makes more sense.
• The threat the Government’s forced electrification poses to the UK’s
long-term economic prosperity and national security.
• How forced electrification will negatively impact most people’s
standard of living.
• Why policies that work in London don’t necessarily work in the rest of
the UK.

The meeting took place as news surfaced that the EU’s own anti-ICE plan
is in trouble, with proposals tabled to create an exception for
e-fuelled cars from 2035. Germany, Austria, Italy and other EU nations
are opposing forced electrification due to the lack of technology
neutrality. MAG has consistently argued that internal combustion
engines will be necessary and desirable for the foreseeable future. Net
Zero can be achieved whilst this technology continues to supply the
clear benefits of carbon neutral, energy dense liquid fuels. There is
no logic in enforcing the demise of a technology in a way that will
inevitably cause hardship for UK citizens, whilst seriously damaging the
UK’s economic prospects, and therefore its security, certainly for
decades and possibly forever.

Speaking after the meeting, Neil said:

“We were not expecting the Minister to announce a U-turn on the policy
in the meeting, but I can say that we have robustly presented the
strength of feeling on the ICE ban. We briefly discussed MAG’s
alternative solution for the future of transport with rapid expansion of
an electrified public transport system allied to a diverse range of
technologies in the private motorised sector. There are no reasons why
electric and ICE vehicles cannot co-exist to create a diverse and
resilient transport system. We are seeing Europe edging towards this
reality, and the UK could lead the way. We have agreed to submit a
fleshed-out proposal to Jesse Norman that will both meet the
Government’s ambitions and avoid destroying the economy and motorcycling
culture in the process.”

Contact MAG at 01926 844 064 or central-office@mag-uk.org

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