Tesla Roadster, Boris think's it's spiffing, so do I. Source: Wikimedia Commons
Iain Dale is accusing Gordon Brown of stealing Boris' ideas, apparently in an interview with the Independent, Gordon Brown announced a plan for electric vehicles long with a number of other policies. Supposedly this plan is a carbon copy of one Boris announced in January and Gordon has jumped the gun and announced it when there was a plan to issue a joint statement.
Such is the tale that Iain spins, but it really just doesn't add up.
Firstly there doesn't appear to have been any initiative announced by Boris in January, Iain certainly doesn't link to one. The only January announcement I could find relating to electric vehicles was for £250m in funding from the government. In fact, given that Geoff Hoon had already made the announcement about all this electric vehicle funding one wonders why exactly Boris and Iain are getting their knickers in such a twist.
Next, looking at the detail of the governments plans and also looking at what Boris has announced it appears that the government plans are far more wide ranging than those that have come from the Mayor of London. Boris has certainly been enthusiastic about electric cars, writing about how jolly good they are, but in terms of action all he appears to have done is set up The Electric Vehicle Partnership, a working group that reports every 4 months and announced an electric vehicle hire plan.
Finally, we need to take a look at Boris' environmental record, and here there can be no doubt that Boris is attempting to gloss over the rather ugly truth. Boris is proposing to cut the size of the London environmental team in half, not exactly the kind of act you'd expect from someone who spends their time enthusing about electric cars.
About the author: Andreas is a Labour activist based in Norwich, he's organiser for his local ward of Town Close. He works as a software developer and being the mercenary soul that he is has found himself working in the insurance, financial services, electronics and marketing industries at various points in time. He blogs at CitizenAndreas. Read more from this author