Keir Starmer is pressing ahead with plans to force UK car manufacturers to comply with EU rules, even if they never sell to the bloc, GB News can reveal.
In July this year, Facts4EU alerted the People's Channel to the major reversal of Brexit coming down the track.
The think tank had obtained proof that Britain’s vital automotive industry would be forced to abandon UK regulations and fully align with EU rules.
Reform's Richard Tice warned at the time that such an eventuality would amount to a "betrayal" of the regulatory freedoms afforded by Brexit, as it applies to all cars sold in the UK, as well as cars sold around the world.
At that point, however, legislation was not immediately proposed, and it was hoped it would happen voluntarily.
This is no longer the case. Following a lack of interest from GB manufacturers, the Government has just announced that it will legislate to make this happen, as manufacturers are not doing it voluntarily.
The Department of Transport buried the announcement under the 'call for evidence' item on its website.
The statement reads: 'Today (18 December 2025), the government is confirming that it intends to legislate to mandate that vehicles placed on the market in Great Britain (GB) must hold dual GB and EU type approval and marking, enabling their sale in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in the absence of evidence that manufacturers are doing so voluntarily. I am also today publishing a call for evidence on this approach.'
A separate written statement from Parliament on the website also says that the call for evidence has been 'launched'.
Parliament has announced that the call for evidence has been 'launched'.
|Gov.UK
What will the legislation entail?
Put simply, all GB cars will have to be made to EU regulations, whether they are being sold in the UK or in 100 markets around the world.
It doesn’t matter if:
- Some of these regulations will make the cars much more expensive
- They are never sold in the EU
- A large number of countries worldwide accept UK regulations as being amongst the best in the world
- Nearly half of all cars exported are sold worldwide, not to EU countries
All cars in GB will have to be made to EU regulations. If those regulations change, UK manufacturers will have to change their cars to match the new regulations – the so-called ‘dynamic alignment’.
For UK car manufacturers, this will feel like being back in the EU. Those who haven’t done so will have to change various parts of the vehicles they manufacture to conform to EU regulations and will then have to keep doing so each time the EU’s regulations change. They will also have to change their pricing and all their promotional material and signage.
"We confidently predict that the new law will be in the form of a Statutory Instrument, meaning there is no requirement for a House of Commons debate. Furthermore, we believe this will be the first of many in this coming year," the report's authors told the People's Channel.
Why is Keir Starmer imposing it?
The Government wanted manufacturers to mark vehicles to show they have both EU and GB approvals – ‘dual marking’ – and the Government fully expects that vehicles will be dual marked”.
This seemed unlikely, given the fact that almost half of the cars exported do not go near the EU. This is no longer the case.
The DfT statement reads: “While the majority of vehicle models are being dual marked, I am aware that some are not.”
“This government therefore intends to legislate to mandate dual marking if there is not a clear commitment from industry to make this the default approach for vehicles sold in the UK.”
“I am pleased to inform the house that today I am publishing a call for evidence on the approval and marking of road vehicles placed on the market in Great Britain."
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