At the Drop-in event held in Portcullis House on 5 February, the NCC’s Director General, John Lally, and Deputy DG, Alicia Dunne, were able to meet MPs and talk to them about why motorhomes should not be taxed as cars and should have their own dedicated VED category.
The overall aim was to encourage more MPs to pledge their support and to raise their concerns directly with the Chancellor. The event saw Conservative, Labour, SNP, DUP and Alliance MPs from every part of the UK coming to support the campaign. John Lally commented:
“Our VED campaign is definitely gaining momentum. We want to ensure that there is strong crossparty support for the campaign ahead of the Budget, which the Government has indicated is the only time they can make such tax changes.”
This event, co-hosted by David Davies and Emma Hardy MPs, was a re-run of the earlier successful event in October. At the February event, an additional 25 MPs – many newly elected plus some researchers – turned up either to support, or to find out more about the campaign.
NCC representatives spoke with MPs about a range of differing issues that affected them and their constituents. John continues: “MPs said their constituent businesses operating in the sector have told them about their grave concerns the effects the VED increase may, and in some cases is already having on them and the industry. Many MPs also expressed shock about the level of increase in VED that Government has imposed.
“Other MPs asked about emissions, to which we were able to point out the low mileage these vehicles do per year and the lack of logic in having the new generation motorhomes (which are cleaner and greener) taxed at a higher rate.
“We also pointed out that comparing the emissions from a motorhome holiday with other holiday options - such as taking a package holiday or going on a cruise - are far less damaging to theenvironment. In addition, choosing a motorhome holiday makes a significant contribution to UK tourism and the local economy.
“The event was definitely a success and we were delighted to welcome so many new Parliamentarians. We will continue to engage with HRMC over this issue prior to the Budget; the Minister has certainly recognised the concerns of the motorhome industry, and the strength of the cross-party support and has repeated on several occasions that VED ‘remains under review’.
“We have gained enormous support for this, from within our industry, from MPs, and from the media. We now would like to see some action from HMRC. The NCC firmly believes that new generation motorhomes and campervans should not be taxed as cars butshould have their own dedicated VED category going forward.”
