The Countryside Alliance has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer urging her to reject proposals for a new vehicle acquisition tax levied according to weight, warning that it would unfairly penalise people living and working in rural areas. 

Reports surfaced last week that the UK office of the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), a Brussels-based campaign group, has lobbied the Chancellor to introduce the levy in the forthcoming November Budget. The Alliance believes such a measure would have a disproportionate and damaging impact on countryside communities where larger vehicles are not a luxury, but a necessity. 

In his letter, Countryside Alliance Parliament and Government Relations Manager, David Bean, stressed that people in rural areas already shoulder higher transport costs than those in towns and cities. Citing the organisation’s 2022 research, later highlighted by an All-Party Parliamentary Group, Mr Bean noted that rural households spend almost £800 more each year on fuel than urban households and pay up to 6 pence more per litre at the pump. Official Defra statistics show rural residents also travel further, averaging 5,767 miles annually compared with 3,624 for urban dwellers. 

The Alliance argues that taxing vehicle purchases by weight would intensify these disparities. Many rural workers, such as farmers and gamekeepers, require heavier vehicles with all-terrain capability and sufficient cargo space to carry out their jobs. Recreational deer stalkers, who play an increasingly important role in wildlife population management, would also be adversely affected but are unlikely to benefit from any professional exemptions the government might seek to introduce. Even for ordinary rural residents, heavier vehicles can be essential for safety and accessibility on poorly maintained country roads, particularly for older or disabled drivers. 

The proposal, which T&E suggested could help reduce the UK’s £50 billion fiscal deficit, is estimated by the group itself to generate no more than £1.72 billion annually. The Alliance characterised this as a poor return given the hardship it would cause. 

Mr Bean concluded his letter by urging the Chancellor to recognise the unique needs of rural communities and to reject the tax outright. He warned against repeating the “outcry” that followed the previous Budget’s Family Farm Tax, and he argued that rural concerns must not be overlooked in fiscal policymaking. 

Commenting on the proposal and his letter to the Chancellor, Mr Bean said: 

“Not content with the Chancellor’s failed attempt last year to balance the nation’s budget on the backs of farmers, campaigners are now lobbying her to balance it on all rural dwellers who need larger vehicles to get around. 

“People in the countryside already pay over the odds for transport, but taxing vehicle purchases by weight would make the problem worse still. Farmers, gamekeepers and conventional drivers – especially the most vulnerable – all depend on sturdier, higher-performance vehicles when travelling the fields, hills and lanes that define rural Britain. This plan risks pricing them off the roads and out of their jobs. 

“Following the disastrous reception in the countryside of last year’s Budget, with its hated Family Farm Tax, the Chancellor needs to be more sensitive than ever to the needs of rural working people. She should file this proposal in the bin.” 

The Countryside Alliance will continue to fight the corner of rural Britain, ahead of the November Budget and beyond.