Labour must consider pay-per-mile road tax, says senior civil servant

The pay-per-mile suggestion is by no means new and comes after the left-wing Resolution Foundation and Sir Tony Blair’s think tank, both linked to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party, have also argued in favour of road pricing.

A 2021 report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change warned that Britain would spend 50% more time in traffic jams as driving becomes cheaper, with a rise in congestion and accidents over the next 50 years expected to cost the economy tens of billions of pounds.

Last year, the Resolution Foundation called for a 6p per mile road tax on electric vehicles, which it said would help plug the government’s deficit while keeping electric cars cheaper to run than petrol or diesel equivalents.

Until now, senior politicians have been reluctant to consider such a measure, with a poll by Go Compare earlier this year showing more than half of drivers were opposed to it.

But unusual public comments from a senior civil servant on the idea will fuel speculation that the policy proposal is set to be dusted off under Sir Keir Starmer, following Labour’s landslide election victory last week.

A “regressive” scenario

In his social media posts, Mr Dnes warned that failure to address the problem would lead to a “regressive” scenario in which electric car owners could drive largely tax-free while petrol-powered drivers would end up paying more.

He said a decision on the issue was “beyond my remit” but suggested a “magic trick” to overcome public opposition would be to introduce road pricing – but only for future electric car buyers.

In this model, drivers of electric cars driving today would never have to pay.

It would also require little new infrastructure, because a driver’s mileage could be easily tracked using advanced technology now built into most electric cars, Dnes added.

He warned, however, that such a measure would only be feasible “when there are very few electric vehicles on the roads”, adding that it “would become politically much more complex if we wait”.

He said: “There is a perfect ‘window’ to achieve this: lots of electric vehicle sales, but few electric vehicles are already on the road.

“That’s way beyond my expertise. People like me exist to enforce the will of elected governments, not second-guess it.

“The only thing I can say is that the UK will definitely be out of that window by 2029. So whatever the choice is, it will be the new government that makes it.”