Clause 29 - Compulsory surrender of old-form licences
Road Safety Bill
3:56 pm
Mr Greg Knight (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; East Yorkshire, Conservative)
A few months ago I, together with two Labour Members, presented a petition to Downing street, objecting to the cross-subsidy idea of a possession tax on motor vehicles. That petition was signed by 50,000 members of the public and by hon. Members of all parties. I do not want this to be a party political issue, but I hope that Ministers, on reflection, will decide against making the owners of vehicles pay an annual possession levy. It is not something that a future Conservative Government would introduce, and I shall be happy to announce on 6 May that it is not part of the new Government's proposals.
I hope that the Minister will think again and look at ways of charging for issuing licences in circumstances in which that is currently free, such as when a person moves house. I would welcome that if it meant shelving the possession tax idea.