Given the rise of duty-free electric vehicles, the Treasury may have to follow the capital’s example
The cost of motoring is firmly in the spotlight again. The price of petrol is approaching a record high at UK pumps, only weeks after filling stations ran dry. Drivers of older diesel and petrol vehicles will be forced to pay a £12.50 daily charge to travel in a wide area of London from Monday, when the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) expands, and all eyes will be on the chancellor on Wednesday to see whether he decides to freeze fuel duty again in his autumn budget.
All things considered, it might seem an unfortunate moment to talk about a new charge for drivers, but the bigger, long-term shift is the transition to electric vehicles – the centrepiece of the government’s decarbonisation plan, under which the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will be banned from 2030. Fuel duty nets the Treasury about £28bn a year and vehicle excise duty another £9bn, and electric cars owners do not currently pay either.
