Chancellors of the exchequer have long resisted any form of road pricing as politically toxic. That may be about to change next week: Rachel Reeves, perhaps inured to being pilloried for any money-raising proposal, is expected to introduce a charge explicitly linked to how far EVs drive. The Treasury has all but confirmed some kind of charge will be announced at next week's budget,
Taxing Britain's SUVs in line with other European countries could raise almost 2bn a year for the public finances, research has shown. The Transport & Environment thinktank has urged the government to use the autumn budget to bring in a levy on the largest vehicles, which it said would reflect the damage they caused to the environment and infrastructure.