{"id":293708,"date":"2024-01-04T09:10:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T08:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=293708"},"modified":"2024-01-04T09:10:47","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T08:10:47","slug":"tony-blair-institute-calls-for-electric-car-road-tax-to-avoid-gridlock-britain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=293708","title":{"rendered":"Tony Blair Institute calls for electric car road tax to avoid ‘gridlock Britain’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Melissa Lawford\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Blair\u2019s think tank has said Jeremy Hunt must \u201curgently\u201d introduce a road tax which would make driving electric cars more expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Browne, senior policy adviser at the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), called on the Chancellor to introduce a new system of road pricing to stop the country becoming \u201cgridlock Britain\u201d. The Telegraph<\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts have warned that the Treasury must step in to plug a \u00a325bn black hole in the nation\u2019s finances<\/a> and stop traffic jams from surging as more motorists shift to electric vehicles (EVs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This will happen because EV drivers do not pay fuel duty. As the Government phases out petrol cars as part of its push to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, this means Britain\u2019s fleet of cars will become far cheaper to run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it becomes cheaper, people will drive more, while the Treasury\u2019s tax take from fuel duty<\/a> disappears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Browne said: \u201cThis [road tax] needs to happen urgently, before too many people buy electric vehicles on the basis that they will not be taxed, making it impossible to introduce it later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report published by the Tony Blair Institute in 2021 warned that Britain will spend 50pc more time in traffic as driving becomes cheaper.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the Government\u2019s own estimates, over 50 years, the transition to EVs will cost the economy an extra \u00a352bn because of extra congestion and \u00a35bn because more cars on the roads will mean more road accidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While an EV costs around 4p per kilometre to drive, a petrol car costs 10p. That means a 400 mile (644km) drive from London to Edinburgh would cost an EV driver \u00a326 in charging costs, while the driver of a petrol car would pay \u00a364 in fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transition away from petrol cars will also leave a gaping hole in the nation\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Treasury\u2019s tax take from fuel duty will fall from \u00a325.1bn in 2022-23 to zero in line with the Government\u2019s planned transition to net zero<\/a> by 2050, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Browne said: \u201cWith fuel duty fading as a source of revenue, the government needs to set out a plan for moving towards road pricing as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tony Blair\u2019s think tank has said Jeremy Hunt must \u201curgently\u201d introduce a road tax which would make driving electric cars more expensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":293711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691821977,691818618,691818154,691825944,691821401],"class_list":["post-293708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-electric-vehicles-evs","tag-energy-transition","tag-net-zero","tag-road-tax","tag-tony-blair","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1epe","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":269872,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=269872","url_meta":{"origin":293708,"position":0},"title":"Tony Blair\u2019s climate pragmatism is a welcome intervention","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/28\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Net Zero Watch\u00a0has welcomed Tony Blair\u2019s\u00a0hard-headed intervention in the climate policy debate.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate Policy\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Policy","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-policy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0124971918_661795024485092_6828274596452972015_n.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0124971918_661795024485092_6828274596452972015_n.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0124971918_661795024485092_6828274596452972015_n.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0124971918_661795024485092_6828274596452972015_n.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/0124971918_661795024485092_6828274596452972015_n.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":270214,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=270214","url_meta":{"origin":293708,"position":1},"title":"Tony Blair\u2019s climate pragmatism is a welcome\u00a0intervention","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/29\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"With mounting public concern and political divisions about the rising cost of the Net Zero agenda, the former prime minister has warned that it was not worth imposing even higher costs on consumers. 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