Seven leading business organisations representing key sectors of the UK economy have joined forces to launch the Road Pricing Coalition, demanding that commercial fleet operators have a decisive voice in how road use is taxed as fuel duty revenues collapse.

The independent, cross-sector coalition brings together the Road Haulage Association (RHA), Logistics UK, British International Freight Association (BIFA), British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), Chemical Business Association (CBA), British Association of Removers (BAR) and Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA).

The coalition aims to give commercial road users a collective voice as the UK prepares for a fundamental shift in how road use is taxed.

The new organisation launches two weeks before the Government’s Budget on 28 October, with the Chancellor facing significant pressure on the public finances and limited fiscal headroom. Fuel duty rates are due to be confirmed at the Budget, but there has so far been no indication that the Government will use the fiscal event to set out a wider long-term approach to the decline in motoring tax revenues.

That’s despite new research showing the urgent fiscal reality facing the Treasury. Fuel duty raised around £24.4bn in 2024/25, but the Office for Budget Responsibility expects receipts to halve during the 2030s and approach zero by 2050/51 as drivers and fleets increasingly go electric.

Fuel duty and vehicle excise duty currently generate more than £33bn a year, and they are not ring-fenced for transport spending, meaning their decline has implications for the wider public finances as well as the road network. At the same time, road use is not disappearing: vehicles travelled 342.6 billion miles on Great Britain’s roads in 2025, 1.2% more than before the pandemic.

The coalition’s first report, dubbed Paying for our Roads: The Decline of Fuel Duty Revenues and the Choices Ahead, examines the scale of the fiscal challenge, the choices facing government and lessons from road-charging systems around the world.

The report sets out the scale of the challenge created by declining fuel duty revenues, looks at how other countries have responded, and examines some of the considerations the UK Government will need to make in the years ahead.

The Government has already begun that transition through the upcoming electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED), which will introduce a mileage-based charge for electric, hydrogen and plug-in hybrid cars from April 2028. Battery-electric and hydrogen cars will initially pay 3p per mile and plug-in hybrids 1.5p per mile. However, vans, HGVs and other vehicle types are outside the initial scheme, and the OBR estimates eVED will offset only around a quarter of the longer-term decline in fuel-duty revenues.

The coalition says this means the debate over the future of motoring taxation is only beginning, and that businesses which rely on the road network need to be involved before wider decisions are fixed.

Rather than backing a particular model, the coalition argues that any future reform should first meet five tests to ensure it is fair, workable and supports the wider economy. These include business engagement throughout the process; alignment with wider government objectives; fair and proportionate treatment of business road users across sectors, vehicle types and regions; phased, transparent and evidence-led implementation; and a coordinated and interoperable charging framework.

Together, the coalition says these principles should form the starting point for any future discussion about how road use is taxed, ensuring businesses have a voice before decisions are taken and helping to avoid reforms that create unnecessary cost or complexity.

Tim Doggett, chief executive of the Chemical Business Association and chair of the Road Pricing Coalition, said: “The tax system for road use is going to change. The OBR’s forecasts make that increasingly difficult to ignore, and the introduction of eVED shows that the transition has already begun.

“The question is how government responds, and whether the businesses that depend on the road network are involved in shaping the answer. We are not launching this Coalition to campaign for one particular model. We are launching it because the decisions taken over the coming years will have major consequences for business costs, investment, supply chains and the wider economy.

“Government has time to get this right, but the conversation needs to start now. Commercial road users need to be in the room from the beginning, not brought in once the fundamental decisions have already been made.”

Richard Smith, managing director of the Road Haulage Association, said: “Road transport is an enabler of the whole economy. Our members move the goods that keep businesses operating and communities supplied, so changes to the way road use is taxed will be felt far beyond the haulage sector. A cross-sector Coalition gives industry a stronger voice to make sure future reforms are workable, proportionate and support growth.” 

The Road Pricing Coalition’s inaugural report is available to read in full here.