Millions of drivers will be affected by a new Labour policy with the Transport Secretary backing the move despite serious concerns.
Heidi Alexander initially denied there were any plans for a pay-per-mile fee (Image: Getty)
Heidi Alexander has just angered millions of the UK’s electric car owners and ignored the reservations of the motoring industry. Labour’s Transport Secretary has thrown her support behind the new controversial electric car tax pay-per-mile proposals outlined by Rachel Reeves in the Autumn Budget.
From 2028, electric car owners will need to pay 3p-per-mile on top of existing Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates to offset the decline in fuel duty revenue. Trips between London and Scotland could cost £12, with journeys from Cambridge to Oxford around £3. Plug-in hubris models don’t escape with fees set at the lower 1.5p per mile.
It’s time Labour stops, reads the room and rows back on plans that could do so much damage to a fragile industry. Ahead of the Budget, the Transport Secretary seemed to be confused about the policies affecting her own motoring brief.
According to Hansard, just a week before the Budget, Ms Alexander was specifically asked by the Conservatives whether the introduction of a pay-per-mile charge would “disproportionately” impact rural constituencies. However, Ms Alexander rejected the idea, explaining that there were “no proposals to introduce a national pay-per-mile scheme”.
Electric cars will be charged per mile from 2028 (Image: Getty)
But, sources close to the Transport Secretary later revealed she had misspoken with an EV-specific charge not off the table. Rachel Reeves confirmed the charge at the end of November, with Ms Alexander now claiming she did support the scheme herself.
Alexander said: “We think that everyone who uses our roads needs to contribute to the maintenance of our roads. We have ageing motorways, we need to make sure that we’re repairing them. We’ve announced record investment in highways maintenance so that we can fix potholes and we are going to be in the place by the end of this parliament in about four years’ time where we have doubled the amount of money that we are spending on local roads maintenance.
“That money has to come from somewhere, and we think it’s right that people who are driving electric vehicles on our roads contribute in the same way as people who are driving petrol and diesel vehicles. So we need to get the balance right. But we also need to be fair to everyone.”
As with their approach to the UK’s upcoming petrol and diesel car ban, Labour are proving it is not listening to customers or those on the frontline. The EV pay-per-mile fee has been divisive.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) claimed the move was “entirely the wrong measure at the wrong time”. There is genuine concern that the new fee would put off many new customers who were perhaps on the fence about taking the leap to EVs.
The RAC admitted that the policy “could slow down the transition to electric vehicles”, something backed up by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in their post-Budget analysis.
Ford boss Lisa Brankin was among the manufacturers warning against the taxation of electric vehicles. Labour has pushed the threat of a petrol and diesel car ban on manufacturers, forcing firms to embrace EV technology.
Companies listened, with many developing their production lines to focus on electric models to embrace the future that firms thought they were heading into.
Adding extra taxation at this stage could turn off the only customer supply manufacturers have to support themselves. Ironically, these Labour plans could destabilise the car industry rather than give it the much-needed boost it needs.
