BCP’s Green Party says a planned electric vehicle mileage tax will add pressure on local motorists.
The measure, announced in the national budget on 26 November, will see electric vehicle drivers charged three pence per mile from April 2028, with plug-in hybrid drivers paying one and a half pence per mile.
Rates will rise each year in line with inflation, while the current five pence cut to fuel duty will continue until September 2026.
A Green Party spokesperson said the policy raises practical questions and fears that “ordinary people” could end up paying more. They said drivers already face Vehicle Excise Duty and VAT on public charging and warned that the new tax means “drivers are taxed when owning a car, filling it up, and now just using it.”
Councillor Simon Bull described the plan as “a block on the journey to cleaner air for us all” and said it risked slowing progress as the 2030 petrol and diesel deadline approaches.
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