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Polanski says Labour has ‘shocking record’ on climate issues as ministers expected to cut EV targets for car industry – UK politics live

Ministers are expected to make steep cuts to the government’s electric vehicle (EV) targets this week, in a move that will relieve carmakers but alarm many Labour MPs who are worried about the government’s commitment to the green agenda.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 2 sources•2 min read•Updated November 9, 2026, 12:23 PM UTC
Key points
  • Such is the scale of Burnham’s advantage over his fellow progressive leaders that those who backed the Greens in 2024 are divided 43% to 35% in his favour over whether he or Polanski would make the better PM, while 2024 Lib Dem voters actually back the Labour leader over Davey by a decisive margin of 58% to 17%.
  • Exclusive: Louise Haigh likely to weaken mandate for sales that forms key part of emission reduction plan Analysis: Climate always comes second – are green issues slipping down Burnham’s agenda?
  • Polanski loses to all four other leaders featured in this polling, and Farage only beats one of them, Polanski, but only by a one-point margin.

Louise Haigh is expected to agree to cut a target for EV sales by about a quarter Andy Burnham has a commanding lead over all the other main UK party leaders on polling on who would be the best PM, according to new figures from YouGov.

Additional details
  • In head to head polling, Burnham has a 12-point lead over Kemi Badenoch, and much bigger leads over Nigel Farage, Ed Davey and Zack Polanski.
  • Louise Haigh, the de facto deputy prime minister, will finalise the plan after a crunch meeting in Downing Street on Wednesday to settle a long-running dispute between the transport, energy and business departments.
  • Badenoch is ahead of all the other leaders apart from Burnham on this measure.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

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Every article behind this summary — 2 articles from 2 outlets

The Guardian WorldNovember 9, 2026, 12:23 PM UTC → The Guardian TechnologyNovember 8, 2026, 5:51 PM UTC →

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