Britain to ban diesel and petrol cars from 2040

### No new petrol and diesel fuelled cars and vans will sold in Britain from 2040.


The move comes as ministers unveil a new £255m fund. It will help local authorities tackle the rising emissions from dirty diesel motors. All this is a part of a £3b spend on improving air quality. We all expect Great Britain to ban [diesel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_diesel_car) and petrol cars from 2040.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove told the BBC that the government would give more than £200m to local authorities to draw up plans to tackle particular roads with high pollution. Talking to the Today programme, he said: “What we’re saying to local authorities is come up with an imaginative solution to these proposals.”

They asked if there could be charges for drivers of certain vehicles. He replied by saying: “I don’t believe that it is necessary to bring in charging, but we will work with local authorities in order to determine what the best approach is.”

### Troublesome statistics


In the UK, authorities suspect air pollution for around 40,000 premature deaths. And this is in a single year. Transport might just be the greatest environmental risk to health. The high court ordered the government to produce new plans. It is important to tackle illegal levels of the harmful pollutant nitrogen dioxide. Judges agreed with environmental campaigners that the previous plans were insufficient to meet EU pollution limits.

The councils with the highest pollution levels will have urgent measures brought in. They will include retrofitting buses to make them cleaner, altering road layouts, and re-programming traffic lights to allow for smoother flow of traffic. Ministers will have to consult on a scrappage scheme later this year, but this is yet to come to pass. They have been wary of being seen as “punishing” drivers of diesel cars, who, they argue, bought the vehicles after being encouraged to by the last Labour government because they produced lower carbon emissions......