Will pay-per-mile raise Reeves money or drive people away from electric vehicles?

An electric car charging station at Scotch Corner in North Yorkshire. Public charging points already attract VAT at 20%. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Three pence: a small charge per mile for an electric vehicle, but a giant conceptual leap for Britain.

Chancellors of the exchequer have long resisted any form of road pricing as politically toxic. That may be about to change next week: Rachel Reeves, perhaps inured to being pilloried for any money-raising proposal, is expected to introduce a charge explicitly linked to how far EVs drive.