Anthony Rae 27th June 2024 – What couldn’t have been known when the Will Labour fail its transport decarbonisation test? report was first published on 19th May was that a general election would be called just three days later! However it had always been planned that the report would be regularly updated across the pre-election period, and particularly to take account of the party manifestoes when they were published.

The Labour manifesto was launched on 13th June and therefore the principal subject of the ‘June 2024’ update (see page 3 of the report) is an assessment of what the manifesto says about transport decarbonisation. This is the summary verdict:

‘Just 10 days before the election Labour has finally committed to meeting the 2030 -68% NDC target, a monumental challenge. But for the largest emissions sector of all, with the largest policy gap, it has not made a explicit decarbonisation commitments and has more than hinted that it’s heading in the opposite direction. For a party that will be in government for the next 5 years, this position is implausible, contradictory and deeply irresponsible. Fortunately (as noted on report p.58) the success of the legal cases already secured by Friends of the Earth means that, as a result, Labour will most likely find themselves in court in 2025.’