Europe Threatens to Axe UK Car Number Plates

The EU could force the UK to scrap its 110-year-old car licence plate design as it considers a common European design for all vehicle plates throughout the continent.

A Dutch MEP inserted the plans into proposals to make it easier for people to register vehicles in different EU countries and improve the car trade and free movement across the continent.

Syed Kamall, who leads Conservative MEPs in the European Parliament, branded the plans “idiotic”. He said: “This was meant to be a useful piece of law to make it simpler for people to register their vehicle in a different EU country.

“Instead the Dutch Liberal Democrat MEP working on the legislation has introduced completely unnecessary clauses seeking a common design for all European number plates and a common system of identification tags.

He added: “You can bet your life the common design would incorporate the EU flag. British motorists want British number plates – not European ones. Conservative MEPs will be fighting this idiotic plan all the way.”

The documents, seen by the Daily Mail, say: “The Commission should consider whether the cross-border trade in and free movement of vehicles could be further increased by introducing safeguards against fraudulent use of number plates and by equipping vehicles and their number plates with identification tags.”

“The Commission could also consider whether the obstacles faced by citizens and businesses when transferring their vehicles from one Member State to another could be further offset if there were a possibility of equipping their vehicles with number plates in common colours.”

Matthew Elliott of Business for Britain told the Express: “It is unnecessary, meddling regulations like these which really infuriate business people and the general public alike.

“There is no good reason for the EU to determine how number plates look in individual countries, other than Brussels’ desire for further harmonisation, which the British people have repeatedly shown they oppose.”