Will road pricing answer the UK’s net-zero car-tax conundrum?
Road pricing may promise a fairer, sustainable way to make polluting drivers pay, ease congestion and fund better transport, but few politicians in power have ever wanted to take the flak that would come with introducing it.
The Treasury has stressed the move from petrol and diesel to electric cars as part of Britain’s net zero strategy will require new sources of revenue to replace billions in lost fuel and vehicle excise duty. However, despite a year of speculation that the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, was warming to the idea, there has been no mention of road pricing as a possible solution in his budgets.
Sadiq Khan has been bolder, announcing last week that London will bring in more charges for motorists, in some form, by 2024.
While Khan has backed road pricing in principle, last week’s announcement still contained the familiar caveat that the technology to make a London-wide scheme work wouldn’t be ready until some time later in the decade.
The city is potentially the canary in the coalmine for the rest of the UK. Congestion has grown, and London needs to tackle widespread air pollution and meet challenging environmental targets, with an ambition to drive down car use by more than a quarter. But there is also an imminent funding crisis after Covid, with billions in lost revenue from transport and the government unwilling to fully help the mayor.
Why is road pricing likely to happen, how might it work and what are the potential obstacles?
Roads, unlike most utilities, are essentially unmetered, with the way they are paid for failing to reflect when and where they are used.
Instead the Treasury collects money from motorists via fuel duty and vehicle excise duty. Fuel duty is a blunt tool that charges motorists for how much they
Read more on theguardian.com
