Quite. But British politicians have for many years (and especially since Thatcher) been besotted with America and their supposed 'solutions'. Arguably US politics have arisen out of the peculiar historical and geographical circumstances of the country: adventurers seeking a new world to conquer, seemingly limitless land and resources to plunder, and a buccaneering spirit of 'every man [sic] for himself'. It is now clear that this approach is threatening the future of the planet, but even if it was a valid one for the US itself, it is far from appropriate or feasible when applied to Europe and similar long-settled and densely populated regions.The comparison with the US is pretty pointless, the country is a continent in itself and has numerous economic, political, cultural and historic factors affecting it's network that make it different from ours.
Particularly when it comes to transport. British and most other European cities were built before the motor age; many of them also before the railways. We've adapted to the latter at some cost (eg Newcastle and York), but even comparatively modern suburbs find it hard to cope when every household seems to have two or three cars. Even if it were possible for electric cars to have no impact whatsoever on the carbon footprint, they still cause congestion and chaos. An efficient and ubiquitous public transport network is the only answer. Maybe if we didn't have railways we'd find alternative and equally effective alternatives, but we do have them and the only sensible way forward is to continue to use and develop them.