In 2021/22, drivers paid £25bn in fuel duty set at 52.95p per litre which is then liable for 20% VAT, while road tax raised £8bn. But the government spent only a third on road construction and maintenance with £5.4bn on national roads and £6.4bn on local roads in the same period.

With government plans to encourage drivers to move to electric vehicles with an aim of having a quarter of vehicles electric by 2030, the Treasury will be hit by rapidly diminishing tax revenues from petrol and diesel fuel duty.