The UK government is said to be considering a tax increase on diesel fuel and vehicles in future. In an interview with London's Evening Standard newspaper, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has said that it had been a "mistake" by an earlier government to reduce duty on the fuel and incentivise the buying of such cars through company car taxes. He added, "It's something that we've got to address... We are addressing it through the government's air quality strategy, and by putting money into public transport." McLoughlin also stated that the government is also working with manufacturers to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and spending GBP600 million (USD872.6 million) on EVs and charging points.
Significance: Until the start of the last decade, sales of diesel-fuelled passenger cars was far lower than gasoline (petrol) cars as there were few incentives to buy such a vehicle unless covering significant mileage. However, that changed after a budget in 2001 when then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown cut the duty on low-sulphur diesel by GBP0.03 per litre as well as reducing the taxes on diesels – which tend to have lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than their gasoline equivalents – to help meet the country's climate change targets. However, the benefit from this is offset by the other harmful emissions that are produced including particulates and NOx, which has come into increased focus in recent times in the wake of the Volkswagen (VW) diesel situation and the wider investigations into vehicle emissions that has followed. The costly measures to meet harsher emissions standards is already expected to affect the continued use of diesel engines in some types of vehicles in Europe, most notably small cars, while the introduction of new testing measures could also be a factor. However, despite this talk, it remains to be seen whether the government will take additional measures to push back the tide, or whether it could be left to cities such as London to address their localised emissions problems.
