Fleet and the election: who deserves your fleet vote?

Ahead of May 7’s General Election, the UK’s political parties give their views on the issues which will affect fleet operations in the future. Andrew Ryan reports

The UK is just weeks away from the General  Election and the outcome will have a major impact on how fleets operate, whether it is through road investment, health and safety legislation or changes to tax.

Ahead of May 7, the BVRLA, ACFO and Fleet News collaborated on an eight-month project to pull together a diverse range of senior fleet industry representatives to produce a clear and concise set of policy suggestions.

Some of these would have a huge impact on the strategic decisions fleets make – the number and types of vehicle they purchase or hire.

Others could have a dramatic influence on how fleets operate day-to-day – improving road safety, reducing congestion and boosting productivity.

The project culminated in the Fleet Industry Manifesto, which calls on the Government to tackle a number of important issues facing the fleet and lease sector, including tax, red tape, safety and road infrastructure (see wishlist, right).

It was formally launched at the House of Lords in December, where it was presented to MPs representing the three main political parties, including transport minister John Hayes.

Over the next six pages, we look at some of the major issues affecting fleets, based on the Manifesto conclusions, and decipher the views of the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats, including road repairs and construction, road pricing, autonomous vehicles and fuel duty.

The three major political parties were also asked about changing the company car tax regime to incorporate pollutants such as NOx and particulate matter, as well as CO2, reporting road collisions involving at-work drivers under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations (RIDDOR) 2013 and incentivising the uptake of vehicle safety technology , but did not provide any responses to these issues.

We also approached the Green Party, SNP and UKIP, for their views on key areas of transport.

It is worth noting that these are views and not commitments. All parties are due to release their manifestos soon, and these will be covered in a later issue of Fleet News.