Meeting of the Parliament 09 June 2026 [Draft]
I thank Colm Merrick for that question, the content of which very much exercises me, particularly the UK Government putting a motor tax on EV drivers and penalising them, when we should be encouraging the take-up of electric vehicles so that we can further decarbonise transport.
This is particularly important in rural areas, which may not have transport links that meet everyone’s needs. People in rural areas need to use cars so, when they can, they should have the opportunity to purchase an EV. The Scottish Government has invested more than £70 million in public EV charging since 2011 and increasing private sector investment has crowded in as a direct result of that, so that we now have one of the most comprehensive charging networks in the UK.
However, per-mile taxation is damaging not only Scotland’s decarbonisation objectives but those of the whole of the UK, because it costs the average EV driver in the UK £350 per year, with some drivers in Scotland paying more than £50 more, simply because of our geography. I am also unsure how it is going to work, so I have lots of questions. I would like to see it being scrapped and I would like to see EV take-up being incentivised.