Government spending on transport is set to be reduced following the recent spending review. However, more cash has been set aside to fund the UK’s continued transition to electric vehicles, plus to maintain and repair the nation’s decaying road network.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has just set out the government’s spending plans until the next Parliament in three years’ time, and while funding for the National Health Service will increase by three per cent year-on-year until 2028/29, the Department for Transport’s day-to-day spending will be cut by as much as five per cent.
This is the second-largest department cut as a result of the Spending Review, followed by the Foreign Office, which is seeing a 6.9 per cent reduction in spending, mostly on foreign aid.
London congestion charge to rise by 20% as EV exemption chopped
However, despite there being less overall funds available, the Treasury now says it plans to invest £1.4 billion over the next three years into turbocharging the UK’s transition to electric vehicles.
Exactly how the government plans to do this is another matter, although a spokesperson did tell Auto Express that “the Government will consider raising the Expensive Car [VED] Supplement threshold for EVs only at a future fiscal event” – meaning that such a move is still on the cards, potentially for Autumn’s Budget.
