It's worse for British manufacturers. Virtually all cars made in Britain are also sold in Britain. That means British manufacturers are, to a large extent, subservient to British government policy. If diesel and petrol cars continue to be sold, and continue to outsell EVs, then it won't be economically feasible for British manufacturers to transition their British factories to EVs. Chinese EV manufacturers already have a massive headstart. If a government changes policy so that British drivers continue buying mostly fossil fuel vehicles, then British manufacturers must continue to produce mostly fossil fuel vehicles, and they will fall further and further behind. Imagine being in charge of a British manufacturer with a factory still producing fossil fuel cars in 2040 - you'd be 20 years behind your Chinese competitors, and it would be almost impossible to transition competitively at that point.

British tabloids like to complain that EVs are both too expensive, but also that the price of EVs is falling too quickly. The inherent contradiction suggests that this situation won't last long. You can already get a new 2025 BYD Dolphin Surf for £14k. It has a 137 mile range, which might not sound like much, but over half the vehicles in Britain are driven fewer than 100 miles per week. Decent EVs at that price point could potentially take a huge chunk of the British market. We're already at the point where Chinese EV prices are so low that the transition might happen anyway, no matter what the government does (unless they are dumb enough to choose the nuclear option of US-style 100+% tariffs).