People will have to stop using their cars if the Government’s climate change targets are to be met, a group of MPs have said.

The Science and Technology Select Committee, a group of backbench MPs from all political parties, released the report on Thursday, saying that the UK “is not even on course to meet its existing legally binding targets for 2023 to 2032”.

They say that the areas where the Government is currently failing include the rising of bus and train fares, low-carbon power generation tariffs closing, cancellation of the zero-carbon homes policy and the exclusion of onshore wind and large-scale solar power.

Norman Lamb, the chair of the committee, said: “The worrying effects of climate change, such as heatwaves, wildfires and flooding are already occurring at an alarming rate and will have a huge impact on future generations.

“We need to see the Government put its words into actions.”

A government spokesman said: “We welcome the committee’s report and will consider its findings.

“We are going further and faster to tackle climate change than any other major economy, having legislated for net zero emissions by 2050.”

With regard to transport, the report said that the Government’s proposed ban on sales of new conventional cars and vans should be brought forward to 2035 at the latest, and it should also cover hybrid cars.

It goes on to say: “In the long-term, widespread personal vehicle ownership does not appear to be compatible with significant decarbonisation.”

Reacting to the report, Councillor Hayley Eachus, Cabinet Member for the Environment and Enforcement on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, said: “This is an interesting report and we’ll wait to see how this feeds into the Government’s approach to tackle climate change nationally.

“Locally, our councillors have wholeheartedly given their support to tackle climate change head-on by recommending we declare a Climate Emergency and build on the great work already being done in the borough to achieve zero emission by 2030.”

Earlier this week,

it was revealed that a stretch of the A339 in the town was below the targets for nitrogen dioxide emissions

having previously been thought to be exceeding them – and are projected to fall further in the next two years.

Other priorities recommended to the government by the committee include a strategy for decarbonising heat, an incentive scheme for energy efficiency in the home, a reduction of vehicle emissions, support for onshore wind and solar power, and the removal of greenhouse gases.