Avoiding Gridlock Britain is the name of the report released today (31/08/2021) by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and it warns that three major implications will result if the gap from fuel duty taxes resulting from the expected switch to electric vehicles (EV) is not covered by a new way of paying for motoring. If action is not taken, the report warns that:

• Congestion will get rapidly worse with time wasted in traffic increasing by up to 50 percent. 
• Annual fuel duty revenues plummeting requiring tax rises elsewhere equivalent to up to 2p on income tax by the end of next Parliament and up to 6p by 2040.
• Unfairness will rise as owners of electric vehicles will inevitably be from wealthier income deciles who will avoid the fuel duty taxes, leaving those who cannot afford EVs to cover the bill. Unequal distribution of charge points exacerbates this issue. 

To avoid these issues the report recommends road pricing as a replacement for fuel duty and road taxes. The report says:

"There is real urgency: while the government avoided this issue in its recent Transport Decarbonisation Plan, we need to act now. If we do not, then congestion, reduced revenue and higher unfairness will create political problems in the next five years, and millions of BEVs will be purchased on the assumption they will be cheap to use for their lifetimes. Introducing a pricing scheme at that point will be politically impossible."

The report recommends a 'dynamic road pricing' model, varying the costs of driving according to a number of factors e.g. time of day, vehicle emissions etc., as the only model able to solve the issues of todays motoring says the report. However, this model also comes with the biggest privacy impacts. 

Road pricing has been a returning subject for many years, but discussions tend to end when realising that the political support or courage is not there. The report by the Blair Institute for Global Change tries to address nine key political challenges that a road pricing model for the UK needs to address. These include:

• Avoiding an "attack on motorists"
• Revenue Levels – How Far to Internalise the Externalities. Motoring currently imposes external costs far higher than the taxes collected from car use. It needs to be considered to what extent a road-pricing system will internalise these.
• Fairness Impacts
• Protecting Privacy
• Simplicity
• Predictability
• Pace of Implementation
• The Right Role for Government and the Private Sector
• Cohesion With Wider Transport Policy

For the full report please see here.

CIHT has also suggested that the government look at options for road pricing including in Comprehensive Spending Review submissions and our report Improving Local Highways from 2020. 

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• George Gillespie, President, HORIBA Automotive and SMMT
• Ivan LeFerve, Environment Group Manager, Highways England

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