Rochdale Euro-MP responds to car tax budget increase

Date published: 22/03/2006

Rochdale Euro-MP Chris Davies claims the Chancellor's Budget announcement to increase car tax does not go far enough to make drivers of 4x4 vehicles pay severely for the pollution they cause.

Gordon Brown has announced that cars producing more than 185 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre will have to pay an extra £40 a year in vehicle excise duty.

Euro-MP Chris Davies claims that the Chancellor has only paid lip service to the issue of climate change by raising vehicle excise duty on gas guzzlers by a token amount.

The Liberal Democrat says that if the Government is serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions an annual licence fee of £1,000 should be introduced on all cars emitting more than 200 grams of carbon dioxide per  kilometre, with additional increases to follow every year.

He is calling for EU measures to force car manufacturers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from new cars by setting a binding limit of 120 grams per kilometre to be achieved by 2012.

Sales of 4x4 vehicles have grown every year since 1997, and bucking the trend of an overall decline in car sales last year.

Known also as sports utility vehicles (SUVs) they range from luxury M-Class Mercedes, costing £35-49,000, to cheaper models such as the Cherokee Jeep at purchase prices of £18-24,000.

Environmentalists claim that the emissions produced by the vehicles make a growing contribution to global warming and run counter to efforts made in recent years to reduce pollution from cars.
 
Since 2003 vehicle excise duty has been based on CO2 emission, but the difference between lowest and highest level of the annual tax is only £115.
 
Mr Davies said: "Like the majority of people most of my time I am in the car by myself. Environmental issues aside I cannot see any point in paying through the nose for a big vehicle that can only get through traffic faster than my own by breaking speed limits."

The MEP accepts that farmers and a handful of people living in extreme locations may need a 4x4 to cope with road and weather conditions, but he believes they present a danger to others when used in cities or on the 'school run'.