Pay-per-mile: Critics argue that motorists every move would be tracked, leading to a surveillance state

Interview with politics expert, Dr Steve McCabe.

Transcript

00:00At the present, of course, every time we go in to buy a litre or a tank full of petrol

00:07or diesel or whatever else that you get from the petrol station, you're paying a significant

00:13amount in terms of revenue. It's a big revenue generator for the government, currently something

00:18about £25 billion. Now, of course, we have this target, if you like, in the not-too-distant

00:23future of having cars that are not going to work on fossil fuels, like petrol, diesel,

00:29electric cars. So in that sort of sense, you bypass the petrol station and, of course,

00:34that revenue disappears. So there's got to be some form, if you like, of replacing that.

00:39Perhaps the biggest concern raised about a potential pay-per-mile is social inequality,

00:45with the poorest in society having the largest burden from the new taxation.

00:50Well, of course, there's always going to be this sort of problem, quite clearly. It's

00:55a bit like sort of road taxation. Of course, we have methods, if you like, of sort of collecting

00:59that. Of course, that's sort of done automatically. But of course, people choose not to pay that.

01:03So the difficulty, and I fully accept that some sort of people are going to say, I can't

01:09pay for miles or pay per mile, because, of course, I do sort of huge numbers of miles.

01:14I think that there's going to be no fair way, if you like, I suppose, that the policy makers

01:19can provide some, if you like, sort of safety net for those who are sort of on lower incomes.

01:24Many have raised concerns about the tracking of motorists, leading to what they say may

01:30be a surveillance state. It's certainly going to be a political hot potato for the Labour

01:36government.

01:37Well, absolutely. I mean, of course, people sort of do feel sort of resentful of this.

01:40But I do sort of come back to the fact that we've got to have some alternative for collecting

01:44sort of the revenues that we sort of get through fuel. So as I say, this is going to be a long-term

01:48approach. And I think there has to be sort of an education campaign. People have got

01:52to be aware of what the consequences are of not paying the sort of the revenues, because

01:56quite clearly, of course, it's a form of taxation.