Road pricing may be needed to replace fossil fuel tax in EV transition, says expert

Britain must prepare for the widespread use of road pricing to make up a £35bn shortfall in tax revenues from the transition to electric vehicles, the country's top infrastructure adviser has said.

- Richard Partington, Gwyn Topham

Sir John Armitt, the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), said it was time for a "proper public debate" about the future funding of the road network and other critical projects.

"It's politically a very difficult issue, isn't it? But many people will say road pricing is inevitable. Personally, I don't see why it should be any different to anything else," he said yesterday.

"We pay for all our other infrastructure services as we use them, and we pay for driving on the road, as we use it, via petrol tax. And if you're going to lose the petrol tax, at [more than] £30bn a year, what is government going to replace it with?"

Armitt was speaking on the sidelines of an event at the engineering firm Skanska's national headquarters in Watford, after a speech by the chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, announcing the launch of a new watchdog to "get a grip" on infrastructure delays.