{"id":780096,"date":"2026-02-21T20:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/780096\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T20:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T20:30:18","slug":"rachel-reevess-new-3p-pay-per-mile-charge-ripped-to-shreds-by-car-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/780096\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Reeves\u2019s new 3p pay-per-mile charge ripped to shreds by car boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rachel Reeves’s<\/a> new pay-per-mile car tax charge<\/a> has been blasted by the boss of one of the UK\u2019s biggest car dealership brands. The Chancellor confirmed the introduction of a new 3p per mile road tax policy for electric vehicles<\/a> in her autumn Budget, with Labour keen to plug the gap left by lost petrol and diesel fuel duty as more motorists switch to electric vehicles (EVs).<\/p>\n

The new rule would be in place from 2028, with plug-in hybrids charged 1.5p per mile. The news\u00a0sparked controversy, with the\u00a0Society of Motor Manufacturers\u00a0<\/a>and Traders (SMMT)<\/a>, which oversees the UK\u2019s car industry, among the leading names to call out the move.<\/p>\n

Robert Forrester, chief executive of Vertu Motors<\/a>, who runs dealerships for some of the UK\u2019s biggest household names such as Vauxhall, Citroen and Peugeot, has now revealed his fury at the idea.<\/p>\n

Although Mr Forrester sympathised with the Government having to replace fuel duty revenues, he questioned Ms Reeves\u2019s method.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk<\/a>, Mr\u00a0Forrester said: \u201cFrom my own perspective, it was an ill-thought-out policy on a number of grounds.<\/p>\n

“The SMMT’s Mike Hawes said it was \u2018the wrong policy at the wrong time\u2019 and I think he\u2019s right. One is an easy one \u2013 if they had said we need to replace fuel duty, there’s going to be flat tax of \u00a3250 each year on road tax for electric vehicles, I think that\u2019s nice and simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas they’ve just opened a can of worms. How\u2019s it going to be measured? How’s it going to be charged? Let\u2019s use MOT stations. It\u2019s just an awfully ill-thought-out policy, let\u2019s be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is understood that drivers will estimate their mileage every year, which will then be checked against car odometers during the annual motoring exam.<\/p>\n

Road users who have underestimated their mileage can then make a single transaction to balance their charges or adjust payments to offset the difference.<\/p>\n

He previously told Express.co.uk: \u201cThis should be a simple process as mileage is already checked at MOT, which is administered by DVSA, and therefore would just need DVSA to link with the DVLA database. Garages wouldn\u2019t need to do anything differently.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel Reeves’s new pay-per-mile car tax charge has been blasted by the boss of one of the UK\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[51,91981,219971,227680,19599,296,190008,190009,619,209035,227681,1523,16,15,19186],"class_list":{"0":"post-780096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-car-tax","10":"tag-car-tax-bands","11":"tag-car-tax-vehicle-excise-duty","12":"tag-cars-section","13":"tag-electric-cars","14":"tag-pay-per-mile","15":"tag-pay-per-mile-car-tax","16":"tag-rachel-reeves","17":"tag-rachel-reeves-car-tax","18":"tag-road-pricing","19":"tag-taxes","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-vehicle-excise-duty-ved"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116110519735000143","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}