Car makers have warned Andy Burnham that green targets ‘no one’ believes will be met are hitting jobs and investment.

As Burnham prepares to take over as Prime Minister from Keir Starmer, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) called for an ‘immediate review’ of the Government’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate to ‘align regulation with market reality’.

The lobby group, which represents car makers across the UK, also said the industry is facing ‘sky high energy costs’ as well as ‘business costs that make it harder to employ’.

‘The success of the UK industry is vital to the success of the UK economy,’ said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.

‘Government can debate what it spends on welfare or warfare. But it is industry that creates the wealth in the first place.’

The message – as the SMMT published its ‘blueprint’ for the next Labour administration – is another headache for Burnham and whoever he picks as his Chancellor.

The boss of Sainsbury’s also sounded the alarm over green levies yesterday, warning of their impact on food prices, amid mounting concern in business that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband could become Chancellor.

‘We’ve seen a lot of additional regulatory costs coming to this industry over the last couple of years, and what we’d like to see is a real focus on growth,’ Simon Roberts said. In a sign of the deepening economic malaise, a separate report showed confidence among business leaders has slumped once again.

The Institute of Directors (IoD) found that nearly 70 per cent of bosses are ‘quite pessimistic’ or ‘very pessimistic’ about the outlook for the UK, while fewer than 9 per cent are optimistic.

‘Businesses need to see meaningful improvements in areas like regulatory cost, tax complexity and swiftness and consistency of government decisions to fundamentally unlock spending and get growth going,’ said Anna Leach, chief economist at the IoD.

The ZEV mandate states that 33 per cent of cars sold by each manufacturer must be fully electric this year – rising each year to 80 per cent in 2030.

‘No one in the industry thinks it can be done,’ said Hawes, noting EVs make up just 23.9pc of sales so far this year, leaving car makers who miss the target facing fines.

He said that while the Committee on Climate Change ‘thinks we can be there’, its remit ‘does not extend to industrial consequences’, even if the domestic car industry becomes ‘collateral damage’. 

He went on: ‘The Government has to consider such consequences, and the mandate is already costing jobs and profitability, and UK investment is at risk.

‘It does need urgent review, not abandoned but amended to reflect reality.’

Hawes said the automotive industry is ‘committed to decarbonisation’ but ‘the issue is how we get there and how quickly we can get there’. He called on the Government to come up with policies that ‘deliver growth’ and ‘attract investment’.

‘The ZEV mandate does the exact opposite,’ he said.