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Sense prevails after lengthy E10 battle

Napthens - March 2nd 2021

Guest article from the NFU

The UK Government announcement that the rollout of E10 will begin from September 2021 is a welcome relief, especially for NFU North West Crops Board Chair Olly Harrison who, for many years, has being arguing for it to be authorised and supported.

During an NFU fringe event at the 2019 Conservative Party Conference, he asked a proactive question about if the Minister would seriously consider allowing E10 fuel. This, he argued, would create an alternative outlet for his grain and its introduction would also help the environment as Mr Harrison believed increasing the amount of ethanol in the fuel would be the equivalent of taking 700,000 cars off the road.

Unfortunately, at the time, the minister was unaware of what E10 was and quickly said she’d bring the issue up with the transport secretary.

The then Secretary of State said back in 2019: “If there is a stronger case for moving towards ethanol because the cereals market is depressed after Brexit then this government will consider it.”

Two years on, it looks like they’ve taken note of Olly’s suggestion.

Mr Harrison said: “It’s nice to see common sense has prevailed.

“We’ll now see cleaner fuel going into vehicles with the by-product being a high value animal feed meaning less has to be imported.

“The NFU’s national crops board have being lobbying for many years. This decision also keeps people in jobs. E10 is a great example of how investment in farming and the rural economy can benefit the whole country.”

  • E10 is a type of petrol which contains 10% renewable bioethanol. Currently UK forecourts provide E5 petrol which only contains 5% renewable bioethanol.
  • 95% of cars on the road are warranted to run on E10 and, once rolled out, it would be equivalent to taking 350,000 cars off the road.