‘No viable alternative’: UK must introduce road pricing, MPs say

theguardian.com:

Motorists will have to pay by the mile to make up a £35bn tax shortfall that will arise from the shift to electric vehicles, MPs have warned, calling on the government to act urgently to bring in a national road pricing scheme.

The cross-party Commons transport select committee said it saw “no viable alternative” to road pricing and work should start immediately on creating a replacement for fuel duty before it dwindled away with the transition.

Without urgent reform of motoring taxation, the UK would face an under-resourced and congested future, the committee said. New petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned from sale from 2030, as part of the governments 2050 net zero plans, losing the Treasury roughly £28bn in fuel duty and £7bn in vehicle excise duty, under current tax rules.

With the exception of the Green party, few have consistently called for road pricing, after an attempt in 2007 by Labour to implement a scheme met with an enormous public backlash. The mayor of London,Sadiq Khan, last month said the capital should move to a smart road pricing scheme but claimed the technology was not ready to introduce it before the end of his current term in office.

Recognising the political difficulty, in its report published on Friday, the committee said new charges should entirely replace fuel duty and vehicle excise duty and be “revenue neutral”, with most motorists paying the same or less than they do now.

The MPs said the government should consider the impact on vulnerable groups and those in rural areas, and ensure that any data captured be subject to “rigorous governance and oversight” to protect privacy.

It should also incentivise people to continue to use public transport, walk or cycle, the committee said, with driving