I’m writing this after the General Election, one that produced a result that very few of us saw coming. It followed hot on the heels of the EU referendum, another vote that confounded the experts, and the 2015 General Election which – you guessed it – also delivered an unexpected outcome.
There is widespread talk that the current, hung Parliament will result in another General Election long before the standard term and, historically, it is fair to say that hung Parliaments have a track record of not surviving for long.
What does all of this add up to? Simply, the potential for a period of political change.
The fleet industry has been fortunate for a long time now, probably decades, that the political background against which it operates has been stable and that there has been, by and large, a consensus covering areas such as taxation. This has allowed us to make strategic decisions in areas such as emissions that have produced positive results.
Our hope as an industry should be that this stedfastness continues, whatever the political backdrop. Company cars and vans remain an essential resource for UK businesses and the ability to plan ahead with a high degree of certainty is essential.
This is especially the case when it comes to newer technologies such as electric and fuel cell vehicles, which have the potential to transform the environmental impact of business transport. For these to thrive and reach their potential, we will need sensible and consistent policies to make their widespread adoption as plausible as possible for fleets.
You’re probably familiar with the often-quoted, ironic Chinese saying, “may you live in interesting times.” It certainly appears that we do – but let’s hope that we are able to maintain a large degree of stability within fleet despite a level of political turbulence.
