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The share of electric cars sold in the UK fell for the first time last year, casting doubt over whether manufacturers will meet binding new green targets and prompting industry calls for tax cuts.

Electric cars accounted for 16.5 per cent of new vehicles sold in the UK last year — marginally down from the 16.6 per cent seen during 2022, according to figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

Although the total number of EVs sold rose by 18 per cent to a record 315,000, overall UK car sales increased by the same amount, rising to 1.9mn.

Last year marked the first time battery cars failed to gain market share since sales began in earnest in 2018. Here’s why there is slowing appetite among buyers for the new technology.

And here’s what else I will be keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Economic data: Halifax publishes its house price index for the UK today, while Germany reports November retail sales. S&P Global releases construction purchasing managers’ indices for the eurozone and UK.

• Inflation: The EU and Italy publish consumer price indices today after Germany and France reported inflation rose in December, dashing hopes for early interest rate cuts. Sign up for our premium Central Banks newsletter by Chris Giles for more on what rate-setters might do next. Or, upgrade your subscription here.

• UK policy: Cuts to national insurance contributions for employed and self-employed people kick in tomorrow.

Be more financially confident this year by signing up to our new six-part newsletter series with Claer Barrett, the FT’s consumer editor. Claer will guide you through managing a budget, buying a house, investing and saving for your retirement. Join here.

Five more top stories

1. Fundraising by US venture capital firms hit a six-year low last year, dropping 60 per cent drop to $67bn. The sharp decline from 2022 ratchets up pressure on start-ups, which have endured a funding drought over the past 18 months. Here’s why VCs have struggled to raise new funds.

2. Exclusive: Labour explored a move to impose sales tax retroactively on private school fees, as some wealthier parents seek to avoid Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to impose 20 per cent VAT on private education by paying several years of school fees in advance, according to people briefed on internal discussions. Read the full story.

3. Israel’s defence minister has said there should be “no Israeli civilian presence” in Gaza when its war with Hamas is over. Yoav Gallant said yesterday that Israel should retain “operational freedom of action” in the enclave and take any action needed to “ensure that Gaza will pose no threat to Israel”. But he said that once the fighting was over, civilian governance of the territory should be in the hands of the Palestinians.

4. China spent $5.5mn at properties owned by Donald Trump while he was US president, according to a report by congressional Democrats yesterday. Beijing was by far the heaviest spender among 20 foreign governments, which also included Saudi Arabia, that together paid at least $7.8mn at Trump-owned entities during his administration. Here are other key findings from the 156-page report.

5. Endeavour Mining has fired chief executive Sébastien de Montessus for alleged “serious misconduct” after discovering an allegedly irregular multimillion-dollar payment instruction. The FTSE 100 company said yesterday his dismissal would take place “with immediate effect” and added it had received separate allegations regarding his personal conduct with colleagues. Here’s more on the ousting at one of the world’s top gold miners.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

News in-depth

Rishi Sunak may have shunned the opportunity of a big speech to kick off an election year, but he nonetheless managed to eclipse Sir Keir Starmer’s set-piece January address this week. The UK prime minister’s studiedly offhand remarks about the timing of a general election, made on the fringes of a visit to a youth centre in Mansfield, trumped the Labour leader’s new year speech when it came to making the top of the political news bulletins yesterday.

Sign up for our Inside Politics newsletter by Stephen Bush for the inside track on British politics and policy.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

Is the west talking itself into decline? The data suggests that over the past 60 years, we have shifted away from a culture of progress towards one of worry and risk-aversion, writes chief data reporter John Burn-Murdoch.

Take a break from the news

Don’t miss this beautifully written story in HTSI’s Body Issue. “The most electrifying footballers are not simply those who have an otherworldly alliance with the ball itself but those who are, as the philosopher Simon Critchley has observed, expert interpreters and visionary manipulators of space,” writes Lola Seaton.

Additional reporting by Gordon Smith and Emily Goldberg