Britain needs a Marshall Plan for the environment

We need to rebuild our economies to be cleaner, cheaper, greener, more circular and completely zero carbon.

Go Ultra Low Nissan LEAF on charge on a London street. Ultra-low emission vehicles such as this can cost as little as 2p per mile to run and some electric cars and vans have a range of up to 700 miles.

After the Second World War, Europe faced the huge task of rebuilding a broken continent. The US supported Western Europe with a programme to rebuild their shattered nations. The largest recipient was the UK with 26 per cent of the aid, followed by France and West Germany.

In the UK, the Labour government of Clement Attlee utilised the Marshall Plan to sustain full employment through a huge programme of council house building, constructing new schools and hospitals and rebuilding the industrial sector. West Germany focused on non-military re-industrialisation, which continues to pay dividends to the German people.