Parliament’s European scrutiny committee has raised concerns over the UK and EU’s deal to prevent electric vehicle exports being hit by post-Brexit tariffs.
Last year, the EU and UK reached an agreement that avoided a so-called ‘tariff cliff edge’, delaying the introduction of post-Brexit tariffs by three years.
European and UK industry had called for changes to the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), signed following the UK’s departure from the bloc, to remove origin rules that would have imposed a 10% duty on cars with batteries manufactured outside the UK and EU.
In its fifth report, the House of Common’s European Scrutiny Committee said it would be asking for more information on the government’s plans for the next few years, raising concerns about the new deadline in 2026.
While stating that the agreement postponed concerns until 2026, the committee asked “what will happen at the end of 2026?”, as the TCA’s Partnership Council had been prevented from extending the rules of origin requirements for electric vehicles.
“Currently, the UK is only on target to satisfy a little over half the capacity the nation needs by 2030,” the committee said, as well as a “a limited window in the next three years to attract further investment in this sector”.
The committee went on to question the government’s plan to support the UK’s domestic manufacturing capacity and how they are going to ensure we have the relevant resources and are competitive when the new UK/EU rules of origin apply at the end of 2026.
Bill Cash, a Conservative MP and chair of the committee, said he was writing to the minister for Europe, Leo Docherty, asking for more information on what was going to happen once the three-year extension expires and requesting a “thorough assessment” of how the UK will increase its domestic capacity before this date.