Motor Vehicles

(asked on 4th October 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to reduce kilometres travelled by car by 20 per cent by 2030, (2) to end the sale of fossil fuel-powered cars and vans by 2030, (3) to end the sale of fossil fuel HGVs by 2035, and (4) to introduce road user charges.


Answered by
Baroness Vere of Norbiton Portrait
Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 14th October 2021

Our recently published ‘Decarbonising Transport: A Better, Greener Britain’ committed to delivering the necessary emissions reductions in road transport to reach net zero by 2050. It is not about stopping people doing things. Rather, we want to drive the transition to electric vehicles and put in place a range of alternatives for people to make more sustainable journeys.

As part of this, we are phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and, from 2035, all new cars and vans must be zero emissions at the tailpipe. We are also consulting on phase out dates for the sale of new non-zero emission HGVs, which includes all fossil-fuelled HGVs, to ensure that our road freight fleet will be zero emission by 2050. The consultation closed on 3rd September and we are now considering responses.

Government has no current policy on introducing road user charges. As stated in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan, as we move forward with the transition to zero emission vehicles, we will need to ensure that the tax system encourages the uptake of EVs and that revenue from motoring taxes keeps pace with this change, to ensure we can continue to fund the first-class public services and infrastructure that people and families across the UK expect.

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