Rachel Reeves has left drivers with a shocking | Tech News

Rachel Reeves has completely hammered drivers within the final two years. Motorists will certainly by no means forgive her. Tax, tax and more tax have hit Britain’s 42 million street customers since Labour took workplace, with the Chancellor raiding the wallets of drivers up and down the UK.

It all began in April 2025, when Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) charges doubled in a single day for a lot of street customers. First-year VED tax charges for petrol and diesel automobiles had at all times been costly, however Reeves took payments to a new stratosphere as costs soared out of control.

The price of taxing a model new combustion car emitting over 255g/km of CO2 was £2,745, however Reeves ensured prices jumped to £5,490. Ridiculous. If this wasn’t enough, the charge elevated by one other £200 earlier this 12 months. VED charges increase with inflation yearly, however this was no normal increase; this was a calculated blow that inflicted most harm on street customers.

The mission was easy: raise charges to discourage street customers from shopping for polluting petrol and diesel automobiles and to push motorists into the arms of battery-electric fashions. But that is what made Reeves’ subsequent two strikes so foolish. The Conservatives introduced that EVs would no longer be exempt from tax charges back in 2022, however Reeves didn’t change the choice and pressed on regardless.

It meant that any EV with a record price of over £40,000 was set to pay the additional £425 Expensive Car Supplement payment over 5 years, an additional £2,125 then. After realising that it was virtually unattainable for households to secure a first rate EV for underneath that price, the threshold was modified to £50,000 this 12 months, one other Labour U-turn.

The Chancellor has additionally revealed plans for a new electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) charge concentrating on these very EV prospects. The new pay-per-mile charge will see street customers slapped with a 3p per mile price from 2028, with hybrid automobiles paying 1.5p per mile. The transfer is extremely controversial and can seemingly backfire.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has already warned that as many as 440,000 electric automobiles will likely be offered as a consequence of the transfer. A bonkers plan, particularly if pushing drivers to EVs was the objective from the beginning.

Motorists have been within the firing line underneath Reeves, and he or she has left motorists with probably the most shocking leaving current: larger taxes and greater payments simply to get behind the wheel – she’ll by no means be forgiven.