Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to change the historic vehicle tax exemption threshold to 30 years.

At Budget 2014 the previous Government announced that it would introduce a rolling 40-year VED exemption for classic cars. This means that currently vehicles constructed before 1 January 1984 are exempt from paying VED.

The law does not specifically define a vehicle as historic or classic for registration purposes, and it is widely recognised that there are many factors other than age which influence whether a car is considered as classic. The previous Government therefore set 40 years as being a fair cut-off date to distinguish classic cars from older cars.

While there are no plans to reduce the tax exemption age for classic cars from 40 years, the Government keeps all taxes under review, and welcomes representations from the public about how the tax system could be improved.