The British automative industry, which has spent billions of pounds on transitioning to electric vehicle (EV) production, has criticised the government's policy U-turn, saying that the change of plans would disrupt supply chains and slow down the electrification of the industry.

Following widespread speculation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday he would push back the ban on the sale of new petrol cars from 2030 to 2035, with the aim of easing the financial burden on households.

“We seem to have defaulted to an approach which will impose unacceptable costs on hard-pressed British families,” Sunak said, stressing that maintaining the targets would have risked “losing the consent of the British people”.

The 2030 ban was introduced by Boris Johnson's Conservative government, and aimed to make the UK the first major economy to decarbonise road transport, ahead of nations such as Germany, France and Spain. 

In response to the target, automakers...