Does the hon. Gentleman have any thoughts on how the Government should go about replacing all the lost petrol and diesel taxes if electric vehicles take off?
I am not sure I heard the right hon. Gentleman’s question correctly. Would he mind repeating it?
My point is that if we achieve a big switch to electric cars, the United Kingdom will lose a huge amount of petrol and diesel tax. How should we replace that lost tax revenue?
That is a very astute intervention. I did not pick up that he said the word “tax”, so apologies for asking him to repeat the question. It is a fair point. I am a member of the Transport Committee and we worked on a report about that a while back. The elephant in the room is that we will have to look at something to replace the current form of taxation. The SNP does not have a policy on whether that is road pricing or whatever, but we have to have that conversation and we have to have it now. We all know that revenue at the Treasury is already an issue, and will become an ever-increasing issue every year, so we have to have that debate sooner rather than later. I rather suspect we will not hear much about it before the election, but after the election that debate will have to begin in earnest.
Of course, in an independent Scotland we would have control of the same fiscal and tax incentives that have encouraged those huge levels of electric vehicle uptake in countries such as Norway. The Department for Transport’s poor record on EV charging is a glaring obstacle on our path to decarbonisation. When compared to some of our European counterparts, the deficiencies in our charging network are stark. We must acknowledge that reliable and widespread EV charging infrastructure is essential to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles and reduce carbon emissions from the transport sector.
Scotland’s approach to rapid EV charging infrastructure is an example of what can be achieved. The SNP Scottish Government have made huge strides in expanding the EV charging infrastructure, with one hand tied behind their back. The network has grown from 55 charge points in 2013 to over 2,500 charge points in 2023. In fact, the latest figures, published in July by the DFT, show Scotland has 72.7 chargers per 100,000 people, which is around 40% more per head than English regions outside London, and 19.2 rapid chargers per head, which is nearly double London’s figure of 10.7.
The lack of rapid charging infrastructure in many English regions, and much of Northern Ireland, makes charging a postcode lottery and hampers the transition to EVs, leaving residents without reliable options for charging their cars That imbalance is not only detrimental to our environmental goals, but exacerbates regional disparities. One would think addressing those imbalances would be a priority for a Government who have been talking about levelling up for quite some time.
The challenges facing the industry are multifaceted and require immediate attention and action. Brexit’s disruptive influence, unresponsive Government policy and the internal strife within the Tory party are hindering our efforts to tackle climate change and transition to a sustainable future
The Scottish Government have led the way on transport decarbonisation, from the EV incentives and charging infrastructure I have talked about and decarbonising our railways at twice the pace of the UK Government, to many times more electric buses per head, funded, bought and actually on the road, those 21 and under travelling free on those same buses, and the gulf—the chasm—in investment in active travel. We have shown what we can do despite the dead hand of Westminster, so just imagine what we can do when that hand is removed by independence.
September 21, 2023
Delaying the cessation of petrol vehicles will take the heat out of creating so many electrical charging points. EV growth would therefore be likely to be slower.
September 21, 2023
It is about time our govt acted in our national interest over key strategic issues ie energy, steel, food, water, military, defence of waters ie regain fishing grounds. If so eco concerned why is the govt allowing huge industrial fishing trawlers in our waters wrecking our fishing grounds? How about waste management human and discarded goods going into rivers and seas?
A dose of common sense and shun the very vocal minority groups, alleged charity groups and act for the majority of British taxpaying citizens. Novel idea but that is what the govt is there for.
Someone in Skidmore’s association needs a loud word in his minority ear. Perhaps he should join the other rats and leave before the election.
September 21, 2023
It was very clear from all the replies you got from the Minister in this telling series of interventions, that the Government’s mind is totally closed to any logic or reason on this subject. Labour’s apparent inability to make up its mind on any subject, could turn out to be an advantage for this one.
September 21, 2023
How does Scotland have the funds to provide free university education to all of its undergraduates + all these charger points installing + free prescriptions + untolled new bridges when a new bridge in England has to pay for itself, with few extra taxes anywhere?
I used to go to Scotland a lot, all those lovely roads, bridges, subsidised ferries, it requires a lot of maintenance especially in winter with the north sea oil they believe pays for all this extra free for alls be lasting forever.
September 21, 2023
I am no wiser with the benefit of the answer you received. Perhaps you could kerb government spending to the extent of ICE road tax. The last beneficiary is the motorist.
September 21, 2023
So, per Mr. Newlands “That is a very astute intervention”. Give him all credit, he knows how to please us Redwoodistas, a notable first for an SNPer!
Alas, his remark is insufficient to stay my caustic comment that despite, as he assures us, “The SNP Scottish Government have made huge strides in expanding the EV charging infrastructure, with one hand tied behind their back” we all know its other hand has been in the English till!
September 21, 2023
His reference to Norway is disingenuous as they have transitioned to a large number of electric vehicles on the back of selling huge amounts of gas and oil to the rest of Europe.
September 21, 2023
They have also benefited from their massive hydro resources relative to the small population that gave them very cheap electricity. However, now they have been ensnared into extensive interconnector links with Europe and the UK they are finding that prices are being dictated by power shortages in Europe, which makes running EVs and heat pumps suddenly expensive. They are now minded not to allow further interconnector links, and refused permission for a new one to Scotland a few months ago.
September 21, 2023
Perhaps DfT can be persuaded to collect statistics on EV chargers, including for the devolved administrations, on a geographic basis that could be reported at constituency level, as with vehicle registrations that I mapped. I suspect this would not be all that hard, since such connections will be recorded by the electricity local network operators as part of their essential network planning and metering information, so it would only involve running database queries. The data could be further divided to show domestic 7kW chargers, 3 phase 22kW chargers, and faster chargers. A further distinction between public and private access would be useful, but may be harder to obtain data for.
Incidentally, did the Palace of Westminster ever complete its project for charging spaces in the underground car park? I recall it would have involved a substantial 4MW upgrade to electricity supplies (80x 50kW chargers were mentioned – enough to supply 4- 12,000 homes according to wind companies depending on how they define a home today), and of course creates a fire risk, so perhaps the project was cancelled or at least scaled back.
September 23, 2023
We have to look at our own motivation for taxing electricity consumption in motor vehicles. Why should electricity supplied from the national grid to charge up a motor vehicle battery be taxed at a greater rate than electricity supplied for cooking, heating and other domestic appliances? The pollution generated at the power stations per unit of power produced is the same. Is it because the owners of electric cars are deemed to be well off in the same way that owners of petrol and diesel cars are deemed (sometimes inaccurately) to be well off?
“The polluter pays” is a good principle and one that should be applied to more than just transport. Some countries pollute more than others. We should bear some statistics in mind. World CO2 emissions are approximately 38 billion tonnes pa, the biggest contributors being China 29.34%, USA 13.77%, EU 9,57% and India 6.62%. World CO2 emissions from burning coal account for 14 billion tonnes pa i.e. 37% of the total. Coal and LNG produce roughly double the pollutants per unit of energy produced that natural gas produces. The world’s convection currents are no respecters of international borders, so where the CO2 ends up is not the same as where it is produced.
This suggests two things (1) that countries running a dirty economy should be penalised by the imposition of additional tariffs on their exports, defined via WTO and (2) that burning of coal and LNG should be a large part of what constitutes a dirty economy. Doubtless initial proposals will be vetoed by China, USA, EU and India but we should persist.
Final point: most of the industries producing green house gas emissions relate to human activity. Zero population growth would help to limit such emissions,