Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the new taxation of electric vehicles on reaching the UK's net zero targets.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government intends to create a fair tax system whilst ensuring that driving an electric vehicle (EV) remains an attractive choice for consumers; the transition to EVs is essential to meeting Net Zero targets.
As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028. The rate of eVED for EVs will be half of the equivalent fuel duty rate paid by the average petrol/diesel driver, ensuring that EVs are cheaper to own and run for the majority of EV drivers. The Government is also providing generous additional support to incentivise the use of electric vehicles, including £1.3 billion of additional funding for the Electric Car Grant (ECG) and increasing the VED Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) threshold to £50,000 for EVs.
As set out by the OBR, the estimated net impact of eVED and other Budget measures, including the ECG and ECS, is 120,000 fewer new EV sales across the forecast period. This is against a baseline which assumes EV sales more than triple from 2025-26 levels by 2030-31, which means the net impact of eVED represents only 2% of total new EV sales in the period.
The Government has set out expected impacts from eVED and other Budget measures in the Budget 2025 Policy Costings document at GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/692872fd2a37784b16ecf676/Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the impact of current fuel duty rates on the road freight and logistics sector; and whether her Department plans to bring forward measures to reduce transport costs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Budget 2025, the Government announced continued support for people and businesses by extending the temporary 5p fuel duty cut until the end of August 2026. Rates will then gradually return to previous levels. The planned increase in line with inflation for 2026-27 will not take place, with the government increasing fuel duty rates in line with RPI from April 2027. This will save the average van driver £100 next year compared to previous plans, and the average HGV driver more than £800.
The Government considers the impact of fuel duty on the economy, including households and businesses, with decisions on rates made at fiscal events.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 27 November to question 92601 on Tourism: Taxation, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of Visitor Levies in other jurisdictions on the hospitality sector.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Scottish and Welsh Governments have published their own impact assessments to accompany legislation for the introduction of their visitor levies.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of applying National Insurance to salary-sacrificed pension contributions above £2,000 from 2029 on small and medium-sized employers, pension take-up and long-term pension savings; and whether she plans to bring forward measures to mitigate the impact on pension auto-enrolment and retirement preparedness.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice.
Small and medium-sized employers (SMEs) are less likely to be affected by these changes. Based on the latest ASHE data (2023/24), 28% of employees of SMEs use pension salary sacrifice, compared to 39% of larger employers.
The government supports all individuals to save into pensions through a generous system of tax reliefs worth over £70 billion a year.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what modelling she has undertaken on applying National Insurance to salary-sacrificed pension contributions above £2,000; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of that measure on pension contributions among middle-income workers.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice.
Individuals earning below £30,000 making pension contributions through salary sacrifice are overwhelmingly protected by a £2,000 cap, with few (c. 5%) making salary sacrifice contributions above this threshold.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential distributional impact of the new taxation of electric vehicles on households with lower incomes.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that EVs contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty.
The Government set out estimated impacts on household incomes from tax, welfare and public service spending decisions taken at Budget 2025, including eVED. These impacts are available at GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69269c6222424e25e6bc31bb/Impact_on_households.pdf
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will be responsible for delivering and administering eVED, so HM Revenue and Customs will not incur additional administrative costs.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the administrative costs to HM Revenue and Customs of implementing the new taxation of electric vehicles.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Budget 2025, the Government is introducing Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) from April 2028, a new mileage charge for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, recognising that EVs contribute to congestion and wear and tear on the roads but pay no equivalent to fuel duty.
The Government set out estimated impacts on household incomes from tax, welfare and public service spending decisions taken at Budget 2025, including eVED. These impacts are available at GOV.UK: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69269c6222424e25e6bc31bb/Impact_on_households.pdf
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) will be responsible for delivering and administering eVED, so HM Revenue and Customs will not incur additional administrative costs.
Asked by: Sarah Pochin (Reform UK - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many compliance inspections of money service businesses have been carried out by HM Revenue and Customs in the last twelve months.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC does not record ‘Money Service Businesses’ (MSBs) as a category in its compliance data across all tax regimes. It is therefore not possible to accurately identify the total number of compliance checks in this area of business without manually reviewing case records. Available figures cover compliance checks under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR).
As a statutory supervisor under the MLR, HMRC has carried out 1,008 compliance checks of supervised businesses across all supervised sectors in the period from 1 December 2024 to 30 November 2025. These interventions form part of the responsibility to protect the UK from money laundering and the financing of terrorism and proliferation, which includes providing guidance and education to support legitimate businesses, fit and proper operating checks, and desk-based and onsite interventions.
Further details on HMRC’s inspection processes are available on GOV.UK: Money laundering regulations: business inspections.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent changes to salary sacrifice arrangements on employees’ pension savings.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice.
Asked by: Saqib Bhatti (Conservative - Meriden and Solihull East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 3 December 2025, Official Report, column 991, what she held discussions with the Independent Advisor on Ministerial Standards before announcing the investigation.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
A leak inquiry is now under way and the government does not comment on the details of leak inquiries.
The Independent Adviser for Ministerial Standards has written to the leader of Reform UK and does not intend to investigate this matter.
The Chief Executive Officer of the FCA has written to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee and the FCA have not launched an enforcement investigation.