Fuel duty brings in £25bn for the Treasury per year – equivalent to almost half of Britain’s defence budget. But consultants at PwC have warned the Government stands to lose £9bn of this by 2030, when one in four vehicles on the road is expected to be electric.
A pay-per-mile road tax is one of the potential solutions officials have previously suggested to replace the loss of receipts. The idea has been backed by think tanks and environment groups, who argued that a flat per-mile charge could be easily metered through annual MOT checks or digitally using electric car hardware or fitted black boxes.
Sir John was speaking as the Government announced plans for a new 10-year national infrastructure strategy, which will set out a building programme for roads, railways, bridges and “social infrastructure” such as schools and hospitals, to be published in the spring.
The plan will be overseen by a new super-authority, created by a merger of the NIC and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, which will “get a grip” following significant delays and overspends on several major schemes, said Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury.
Mr Jones said the plan would give potential investors greater certainty about the Government’s plans, adding: “This new body will get a grip on the delays to infrastructure delivery that have plagued our global reputation.
“It will restore the confidence of businesses to invest and help break the cycle of low growth.”
He said that under previous, Conservative-run governments, projects had suffered from a “lack of strategy clarity”.
“Instead of clarity, we’ve had confusion,” he said. “Instead of strategy, we’ve had short-term-ism, and instead of stability, we have had chaos – all of which has reduced investment in infrastructure and our country.”
Mr Jones also said there was “lots of room for improvement for working with the private sector investors to get money flowing into infrastructure delivery across the country”, in a fresh hint that the Government may look to replicate the model used to build London’s £5bn super sewer.