Alexander does not deny Budget pay-per-mile plan with £1.3bn EV boost

Evening Standard

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander did not deny that Chancellor Rachel Reeves plans a pay-per-mile scheme in the Budget for electric vehicle drivers at the same time as adding £1.3 billion to a grant cutting the upfront costs for buyers.Ms Alexander said she would not pre-empt the Budget, but told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “As we make the transition to electric vehicles, I think two things can be true at the same time."

Transcript

00:00Well, what I think we have done as a government is set out what our priorities for this budget

00:04are, which is about cutting the cost of living for people. We're making an announcement today

00:10about freezing railfares for the first time in 30 years. We want to cut NHS waiting lists

00:16and we want to cut the national debt. And so I think the fact that the Chancellor has

00:20been open and honest about the considerations that are at play in this process is important

00:27for the electorate. She needs to explain what is happening. The review that the OBR have

00:32done about the productivity forecast has meant that this whole process has really taken place

00:38on shifting sands to start off with. And we've got a very challenging global economic. It

00:43is on an upward trajectory and we have the highest volume of sales of electric vehicles. As a

00:51result, I think, of the introduction of the electric car grant. The electric car grant gives

00:56people who are buying a new electric car up to £3,750 off a new vehicle. There are 39

01:04models that are eligible for that grant. And since we launched it a couple of months ago,

01:0935,000 people have availed themselves of this grant. This is an investment in the country's

01:15future. We see the transition to electric vehicles and the good quality manufacturing jobs that

01:21are associated with that. For example, the Nissan Leaf, which is produced at Sunderland. Thousands

01:26of jobs dependent upon that. That's just qualified for the electric car grant. And so making sure that

01:33we are enabling people to buy a new electric vehicle if that's what they want to do, whilst also investing

01:39in charging infrastructure. It is the right long-term decision for the country.

01:45Unless you want to rule it out right now, which is your choice to do, we're also expecting the

01:49Chancellor to make it more expensive to drive an electric car with some sort of pay per mile

01:54scheme. So if you pardon the pun, you're trying to get people to make it cheaper to buy them,

01:59but make it more expensive to drive them, which is putting the foot on the brake and the accelerator

02:02at the same time. That doesn't make sense, does it?

02:04So I'm not going to pre-empt the budget. I know that the Chancellor will be on your show next week and

02:09can answer questions about the announcement that she's going to make. As we make the transition to

02:13electric vehicles, I think two things can be true at the same time. We need a fair vehicle taxation

02:19system for all motorists because EVs, like drivers of petrol and diesel cars, they're driving on roads

02:27that require maintenance. We've got ageing infrastructure, motorways that were built back in

02:31the 60s and 70s. And so we need to have a fair taxation system that is future focused, but we're not going

02:37to do anything to jeopardise the transition to electric vehicles and that will remain front

02:43and centre.

02:44But it is.

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