In the Spring budget statement, Philip Hammond said that the UK government will “help the Great British White Van driver go green with a consultation on reduced Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates for the cleanest vans”.

The relevant text from the Chancellor’s statement reads: “This government is determined that our generation should leave the natural environment in a better state than we found it.

“And improve the quality of the air we breathe.

“So we will publish a call for evidence on whether the use of non-agricultural red diesel tax relief contributes to poor air quality in urban areas.

“And following our successful intervention to incentivise green taxis, we’ll help the Great British White Van driver go green with a consultation on reduced VED rates for the cleanest vans.”

Many environmental campaigners were warm to the response, though some felt that VED inducements could go a bit further.

For example, Andrea Lee, senior clean air campaigner at ClientEarth, said in regard VED: “Reducing duty on the cleanest vans is a welcome move, but the Chancellor should be getting on with it now, not launching yet another consultation. The government knows that it needs to encourage cleaner forms of transport in order to clean up illegal and harmful pollution.

“If he was serious, the Chancellor would have found money to help British industries develop cleaner van technologies and give people and business more options to reduce their emissions.”