Tynwald has approved a 6 per cent across the board increase in car tax.

The increase marks a significant *-turn on widely criticised proposals announced in April which were withdrawn at the 11th hour by Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer.

Those proposals would have seen owners of average older cars with a standard, smaller engine size being hit with the largest increases while, curiously, the fees for some of the biggest polluters would be cut.

But Mr Harmer said some of the proposals had proved popular with the motoring public and he was disappointed ’not to be able to get a quart out of a pint pot’.

He announced that a review of vehicle duty will be conducted over the summer.

That review will include a consideration of the disparity between fees based on engine capacity and those based on carbon emissions.

’Currently, the owners of older larger vehicles pay lower duty than the owners of newer less polluting models. I’ll make sure the public are consulted about any new option. We will return to all of those suggestions next year as part of an overall quest for a system of vehicle duty that is fair.’

The new rates will see an overall six per cent increase in duty but the charge will be frozen for heavy and medium goods vehicles, and electrically propelled vehicles will be zero-rated for three years.

Police vehicles will also be zero rated.

He promised to find ways for motorists to pay in instalments and for tax discs lasting less than a year. His department would make this a priority and introduce the changes as soon as possible.

The new rates, the first increases since March 2015, will generate £13.056m to pay for the maintenance of the island’s highways.

If no increase was brought in before the review, there would be a £440,000 shortfall in the budget.

Mr Harmer said his department was mindful of the potential impact of the increase on members of the public and motorists but had to strike the right balance to ensure the upkeep of the roads.

Lawrie Hooper (LibVan, Ramsey) said he was glad that the Minister had withdrawn the original proposal as it was ’completely out of sorts’.

But he queried why the increase was 6 per cent when the Budget had highlighted the need for fees and charges to be pegged at 2 per cent. ’Why the difference with what we approved in February?’ he asked.

Tim Crookall MLC said he would be voting against the order. ’We are going to hit again a lot of people in that middle bracket - including all ourselves in here - by six per cent. I don’t think that’s fair.’

Tynwald approved the order by 22 votes to two in the Keys and six votes to two in LegCo.