Select committee: Transport Committee
Recommendation 8
Fourth Report - Road pricing
Published 4 Feb 2022
Paragraph 26
Addressed to Department for Transport
Transport Committee Road pricing All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government must set out a range of options to replace fuel duty and vehicle excise duty. Those options should be revenue neutral and not cause drivers, as a whole, to pay more than they do currently. One of those options should be a road pricing mechanism that uses telematic technology to charge drivers according to distance driven, factoring in vehicle type and congestion. If motoring taxation is linked to road usage, the Committee has not seen a viable alternative to a road pricing system based on telematics. The Government’s preferred options should be submitted to an arm’s- length body for evaluation [see paragraph 44].
From: Transport Committee, Fourth Report - Road pricing (HC 789), paragraph 26, 4 February 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 March 2023 (deadline 4 April 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government's position is that it "does not currently have plans to consider road pricing", and it has not responded to the Committee's individual recommendations.
- The Chancellor says the Government is "focused on delivering its core priorities, as set out in the 2019 manifesto", and the Exchequer Secretary adds that the immediate focus has been inflation and the cost of living.
- On electric vehicles, the Government states that from 2025 electric cars, vans and motorcycles "will pay Vehicle Excise Duty in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles".
- The Government says motoring tax revenue "will need to keep pace with this change, while remaining affordable for consumers", and that it "will continue to keep all tax policy under review".
- On fuel duty, the Government "will confirm future policy on fuel duty in the Budget in the Spring".