Transform Scotland has welcomed progress towards road-user charging in today’s UK Budget, but criticised the Chancellor’s failure to tackle the longstanding inequalities in transport taxation.
Earlier today, we called on the UK Government to put sustainable transport first, setting out five priorities for fairer taxation and greater investment in public transport.
The Budget delivers a welcome commitment to introducing mileage-based electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028. This is an important first step towards a comprehensive system of national road-user charging, ensuring that motorists contribute according to how much they drive.
However, the Chancellor has missed several opportunities to make transport taxation fairer.
The continued extension of the 5p fuel duty reduction and wider freeze represents another setback for sustainable transport. Successive governments have protected motorists from tax increases while bus and rail passengers have faced rising fares. More than one in four Scottish households have no access to a car and receive no direct benefit from fuel duty cuts.
The Budget also fails to introduce a levy on larger, heavier vehicles, despite growing concerns about the environmental and road-safety impacts of SUVs. Meanwhile, inflation-linked increases in Air Passenger Duty fall short of the fundamental aviation tax reforms needed to reflect the sector’s environmental impacts.
Although there are welcome individual rail investment announcements, the Budget lacks the wider commitment to sustainable transport investment required to deliver meaningful change.
Transform Scotland believes that fairer transport taxation must go hand in hand with better public transport. Revenues from reform should support affordable, reliable buses and trains, alongside safer walking, wheeling and cycling.
The UK and Scottish Governments must now work together to make sustainable transport the affordable, convenient choice for everyone.
