3. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding the potential future devolution of vehicle excise duty. (S6O-02968)

We have made a number of attempts to engage the UK Government on motoring tax reform without any meaningful response. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition wrote to the UK Government in October 2023, setting out the actions that the UK Government needs to take to accelerate the transition to net zero, and called on it to take a comprehensive approach to reforming motoring taxation to help deliver our climate change ambitions. If the UK Government is not willing to take the actions that are needed, it should devolve powers so that the Scottish Government can.

The recent RAC survey of potholes across the UK estimated that there are at least 1 million potholes UK wide, yet the UK Government collected around £7.3 billion in 2022-23 in vehicle excise duty—better known as road tax. That money is completely swallowed up by the Treasury. Does the minister agree that it would be far fairer if Scotland collected its own road tax and used it appropriately—for example, by ring fencing it? Some of the money in the 2022-23 figures would provide Scotland with £700 million per annum, not simply to plug potholes but to maintain the network.

I agree with the sentiment of Christine Grahame’s point that it would enable the Scottish Government to deliver on priorities in Scotland if we had that share of vehicle excise duty and were able to make those decisions here. It could be used to address some of the issues that Christine Grahame has alluded to or to help to reduce car travel by 20 per cent by 2030—which is our ambition—and to fund more sustainable travel and infrastructure that meets the needs of people in Scotland.