Overview
- Chancellor Rachel Reeves is due to deliver the Autumn Budget on 26 November, with reports suggesting potential car‑tax measures that could include Vehicle Excise Duty changes.
- Shadow transport secretary Richard Holden has voiced concern that the 40‑year VED exemption for classic vehicles could be scrapped.
- DVLA data show 297,480 vehicles over 40 years old were registered in 2023, indicating the scale of owners who could be affected.
- Motoring barrister Richard Clegg estimates that charging the top VED rate of £360 to those vehicles would raise roughly £107 million, while surveys value the historic vehicle sector in the billions with tens of thousands of jobs.
- Other ideas being floated include VED rate adjustments, higher Benefit‑in‑Kind for EVs, tighter salary‑sacrifice rules, modest fuel duty increases, and mileage or weight‑based charging for EVs, as HM Treasury declines to comment on speculation.