{"id":236622,"date":"2023-08-30T12:51:13","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T12:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/?p=236622"},"modified":"2023-08-30T12:51:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T12:51:13","slug":"mp-greg-smith-is-fighting-for-motorists-instead-of-against-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/mp-greg-smith-is-fighting-for-motorists-instead-of-against-them\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018MP Greg Smith is fighting for motorists instead of against them\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Editor-in-chief Steve Fowler has met many politicians throughout his career, but MP Greg Smith is a little bit different<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/media.autoexpress.co.uk\/image\/private\/s--_UdHR4Wb--\/f_auto,t_author-mobile@1\/v1570211896\/autoexpress\/dsc_9533.jpg\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/media.autoexpress.co.uk\/image\/private\/s--9fTlMMvJ--\/f_auto,t_primary-image-mobile@1\/v1693394602\/autoexpress\/2023\/08\/Opinion%20-%20Greg%20Smith.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve met many politicians over the years, including a few Prime Ministers. I thought Gordon Brown was professionally pleasant, David Cameron just seemed to speak in sound bites and Boris Johnson, well\u2026<\/p>\n<p>What I\u2019ve never done before is interview an MP while sitting in the back of an old Land Rover. That\u2019s exactly what I did with Buckingham MP Greg Smith.<\/p>\n<p>Smith is on his \u2018Landy Tour\u2019, using the Defender to travel around his rural constituency to talk to locals. So it was a great opportunity to discuss the important motoring topics that matter most to you with a man who has a real opportunity to influence policy.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/media.autoexpress.co.uk\/image\/private\/s--jMzk3UTi--\/f_auto,t_related-embed-mobile@1\/v1693393341\/autoexpress\/2023\/08\/Greg%20Smith%20interview-2.jpg\">UK motorists are overtaxed, says Tory MP Greg Smith<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I knew Smith was a car fan, but you know what MPs are like. I was fully expecting him to toe the party line and swerve difficult questions. That wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n<p>Smith is clear on his job. \u201cYes, I\u2019m a Conservative MP,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m a back-bench champion \u2013 I\u2019m not a minister. I don\u2019t have collective responsibility, and it\u2019s as much my job to speak up for my constituents and to scrutinise the Government and to challenge the Government as it is for me to walk through \u2013 most of the time \u2013 the Government lobby in the House of Commons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith\u2019s views on pushing back the 2030 switch to EVs are at odds with current policy, while his thoughts on taxation are equally strident. \u201cWe pay a massive amount of tax to earn the money to buy our cars, and then a massive amount of tax to buy or lease our cars. Then every time we want to put it on the road once a year, a whopping great bill for Vehicle Excise Duty. And then you get walloped at the fuel pump. I think we do need to acknowledge how badly the motorist is taxed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If road pricing comes in, Smith favours a smart in-car device over a black box or cameras, but is clear any new system of taxation has to be \u201copen, transparent and fair.\u201d Smith seems to have what\u2019s classed as a \u2018safe seat\u2019. Let\u2019s hope he stays in Parliament to lobby hard on behalf of all of us.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Now read more about the 2030 petrol and diesel ban&#8230;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autoexpress.co.uk\/opinion\/360836\/mp-greg-smith-fighting-motorists-instead-against-them\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor-in-chief Steve Fowler has met many politicians throughout his career, but MP Greg Smith is a little bit different I\u2019ve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018MP Greg Smith is fighting for motorists instead of against them\u2019 - AutoMotoBuzz.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/mp-greg-smith-is-fighting-for-motorists-instead-of-against-them\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018MP Greg Smith is fighting for motorists instead of against them\u2019 - 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