Motorists and plane passengers could be hit with higher charges under plans for carbon neutral travel by 2050
GREEN taxes are likely to be introduced on to cars and flights in a bid to reduce the UK's transport emissions, the Government has suggested.
The Transport Secretary unveiled his new "greenprint" plan on Wednesday which aims to "decarbonise all modes of domestic transport by 2050".
suggests that new motoring taxes will be introduced to counteract the loss of fuel duty as petrol and diesel cars disappear from the roads.
It states that the Government will ensure that "revenue from motoring taxes keeps pace" with the switch to electric cars so that it can continue to find "the first-class public services and infrastructure that people and families across the UK expect".
According to , among the plans being considered is the introduction of a road pricing scheme that could see drivers pay tolls or per mile.
This would be based on an in-vehicle tracking system.
The Government is also looking to expanding the price of petrol to be in line with the European Union.
Electric cars are not to pay any vehicle excise duty (VED) until at least 2025, the plan outlines.
However, the clean vehicles could be hit with higher fees from then.
"You couldn't put the extra costs on VED, because so many people just wouldn't pay it," Sir Edmund King, the AA president, told The Telegraph.
He added that the higher purchase taxes would be a disincentive for people to buy electric vehicles and that the taxing could be "regressive".
Motorists have been offered assurances by the Transport Secretary that the Government is not "anti-car", nor wanting to "demonise" drivers.
'AIRFARE RISE'
Grant Shapps told MPs on Wednesday the ambition is to ensure cars "can run without damaging people's health and the environment" as he unveiled new reforms.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Shapps also said: "We are not against the car.
"We want people to have access to cars and indeed in rural areas it is often the only way that people have got to get around, despite obviously wanting to improve bus services and the rest of it."
For airlines, the plan promises to reconsider carbon prices to "help accelerate" the move to green fuels.
This could see a rise in airfares.
The plan also hopes to reach net-zero in domestic flights by 2040.
The new zero-emission plan was announced ahead of the major climate summit COP26 to be held in Glasgow in November.
In the plan, the Government intend to phase out polluting cars and vans by 2035 and all new diesel and petrol heavy goods vehicles by 2040.
"This is a comprehensive yet urgent strategy to end transport's contribution to climate change within the next three decades, showing global leadership, as we prepare to host COP26," Grant Shapps said.
Meanwhile, electric car drivers are set to get a discount for recharging their batteries at unpopular hours to prevent crippling power cuts.
Most read in News
The move is designed to stop the National Grid from experiencing catastrophic surges in demand and falling over in the move to go Green.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Experts have warned that electric car drivers are all likely to want to plug in and recharge their wheels around the same time after work.
Ministers fear the sudden spike in demand as Brits move from petrol to electric will cause the already overburdened system to blow completely.