Downing Street Says » Vehicle Excise Duty

Asked whether the Prime Minister regretted misleading the House about vehicle excise duty (VED), the PMS said that he did not accept the premise of the question. The Prime Minister told the House on the 14th May that the majority of motorists would benefit or pay no more in vehicle excise duty as a result.

Put that on the 4th June, the Prime Minister had said to the House that the majority of drivers would benefit, the PMS reiterated that the Prime Minister had made the position clear on the 14th May when he had said the majority of motorists would benefit or pay no more in vehicle excise duty as a result. In terms of what the House understood by what he said, the PMS referred people on a factual point, to what the leader of the opposition had said in reply on the 4th June; the leader of the opposition said "he says that next year half of all motorists would be better off or no worse off. That is what he has just said." The PMS added that he thought the Prime Minister had conveyed the meaning very clearly on the 14th May.

Put that given this did not come in until next year, was there any chance that this was going to be reviewed in the same way that the fuel duty would be reviewed in October, the PMS replied that we had always made clear in relation to the proposed increase in fuel duty, that this would be a decision that would be looked at again in advance of it coming into effect, just as we had done on previous occasions. The Chancellor himself had made this clear many times, most recently in the interview with the Evening Standard a week or so ago.

Asked again whether the VED policy would change, the PMS said that we had said explicitly in relation to the increase in fuel duty, that we would consider closer to the date of it coming into effect, whether or not to go ahead with the increase. Asked whether anyone had acted with the Prime Minister’s authority by speaking to Labour MP’s and telling them that there would be a review or a possibility of a change, the PMS said that the person who spoke on behalf of the Government on this issue was the Chancellor and he had set out his position. Asked repeatedly whether the Whips had spoken to Labour MP’s, the PMS said that the person who made the decisions on these matters and spoke on behalf of the Government on these matters was the Chancellor.

Put that the PMS did not accept that the statement in the Commons on the 4th June was in any way misleading, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had set out the position very clearly on the 14th May and that had consistently been the Government’s position and we could point people to many examples of both the Prime Minister and the Treasury having used that form of words. Put that the opposition had said that they believed the Prime Minister had misled the House of Commons on the 4th June, the PMS repeated that that wasn’t the position being taken by the leader of the opposition when the Prime Minister spoke.

Asked whether the Prime Minister thought that the concern over the level of the increase was justified, the PMS said that it was the Prime Minister’s view that as he had been saying consistently this week in the G8, that we are faced with a global increase in oil prices and that made it even more important that we pushed ahead with our environmental agenda. It was only by pushing ahead with this agenda and for example, incentivising more fuel efficient vehicles or incentivising vehicles that didn’t rely solely on petrol, that we could deal with the global problem of high oil prices that we were facing.

Asked whether the Prime Minister accepted the concern that this was going to affect people who already had cars and didn’t have a choice in the matter, the PMS said it had been a long established principle since 1997 in the vehicle excise duty system, that cars are taxed on the basis of their emissions and that applied to new cars as well as used cars. What the Prime Minister accepted was that what we needed to do was incentivise the use of more fuel efficient vehicles and that was why, as a result of the changes we had made, the majority of people who drove more fuel efficient vehicles were better off or no worse off.

Asked whether the Prime Minister accepted the figure of nine million people being worse off, the PMS replied that the figures were set out in the Treasury’s answered PQ from yesterday.

1 Comment »

Are these idiots in Westminster now trying to decimate the second hand car industry like they have done with the housing sector, if people changed their cars for a lower C0 emission like they would like you to then the garage forecourts would be full off cars the garage owner can not sell, making your car worth only scrap value.
Comment by David Gent — 13 Jul 2008 on 8:46 am | Link

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» Thursday, July 10, 2008

Vehicle Excise Duty

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