By Paul Homewood
Sadiq Khan is extending London’s congestion charge to all zero-emission vehicles from the end of next year.
The move, which will extend the £15-a-day tax on motoring to battery-powered electric vehicles from Christmas Day 2025, was widely condemned on Tuesday.
Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, said: “Taxing cars even if they’re zero emission shows Labour’s plan to use motorists as cash cows. If they get into government there will be worse to come, with pay-by-mile taxes and fuel duty hikes to help close their £2,000 tax black hole.”
The AA described the scrapping of the green exemption as “a turkey bone in the throat” for owners of electric cars wanting to drive them in the capital.
Confirmation on Tuesday that the zero emission vehicle exemptions will be scrapped were condemned by Quentin Willson, a former Top Gear presenter who now campaigns for a faster transition to electric vehicles.
Mr Willson told The Telegraph that the plans seemed “counter-productive” and that his FairCharge UK group would be writing to the Mayor to object to them.
“The cynic in me can’t help thinking that this is a revenue-based issue,” he said. “Why are we stopping it now? And they will say, ‘well, it’s a congestion issue’. But then surely, it’s manifestly better to have cars with zero tailpipe emissions sitting in queues rather than those that are polluting diesel and petrol?
“So to me, it just doesn’t work with his campaign to make London a much greener, cleaner air city. It seems completely counter-productive.”
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Did these foolish EV supporters really think that Khan was doing this because of “clean air”? Did they not realise what the rest of us knew all along that it was always a money raising exercise?
And this will be the tip of the iceberg. As Mark Harper has the audacity to point out, EV drivers will very soon have to start paying their full share of tax one way or another.
And dolts like Quentin Willson will probably have apoplexy!