MP urges road tax reform for electric cars

Bath MP Wera Hobhouse has called for reform of the road tax system to adapt to the growth of electric vehicles.

Ms Hobhouse told Parliament that the UK’S current £28 billion a year raised in fuel duty could be replaced with a system based on mileage and emissions when petrol cars are eventually phased out.

The system would charge drivers per mile and the price would vary depending on different factors such as levels of emissions and the location to which the person is driving.

“Road taxation must reflect our net-zero future,” she said.

“New petrol and diesel vehicles will stop being sold in 2030 and we must think of a fair and reasonable system that will replace the financial losses the Treasury will endure due to the lack of fuel duty.

“We have the blueprint for such a system: pay-as-you-drive is popular and proportionate.”

According to the MP, the infrastructure must also be there for it to make it easy to own and operate an electric vehicle (EVS).

She said: “The infrastructure that will give us the capacity to have mass EVS on our roads must be rapidly scaled up.

“All of our policy decisions must take into account our netzero future and the vehicle taxation system is no exception to this.”