UK number plates may be axed by the EU

EU PLANS to scrap Britain’s distinctive white and yellow car number plates were condemned last night.

Proposals for a standardised design include using ‘common colours’ and ‘ID tags’ so a new EU-wide database can keep track of all vehicles on the continent.

While British number plates can include the Union Flag or the national flags of England, Scotland and Wales, when travelling in Europe the vehicle must have a GB sticker. Now the EU wants just one version to make it simpler to register vehicles in a different EU country.

Last night Tory MEPs rounded on the move, branding it ‘idiotic’.

Syed Kamall, leader of Britain’s Conservative MEPs, said he would fight the plan ‘all the way’.

He added: ‘You can bet your life the design would incorporate the EU flag. Eurocrats have failed to force us to put their symbol on sports shirts or to fly it above public buildings... now they are trying make it compulsory on cars.’

The proposal from the European Parliament states: ‘The obstacles faced when transferring vehicles from one member state to another could be offset if there were a possibility of equipping vehicles with number plates in common colours.’

However, an RAC spokesman said: ‘The British number plate is simple and highly effective.

‘It ought to be possible to come up with guidelines that allow countries to adapt number plates slightly without going for full standardisation.

‘If that really has to be the way, perhaps the UK’s number plates should form the basis of a new standard, especially as several countries already use a format closely resembling ours.’