'£40 tax' for driving from Edinburgh to Glasgow

Published on Tuesday 27 February 2007 00:13

THE journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow could cost drivers £40 under government plans to introduce road charging, Alex Salmond claimed yesterday.

Launching tax-disc style stickers displaying the slogan "No Toll Tax", the SNP leader likened the plan to charge up to 1.28 per mile on busy main roads, such as the M8, to the poll tax.

He said Liberal Democrat support for bringing in the scheme before the rest of the country would make Scotland a "guinea pig", just as the Conservative government had introduced the poll tax north of the Border in the Eighties.

"A toll tax to drive on Scotland's roads would be an expensive, bureaucratic nightmare. It would hit every Scottish family - and hit the poorest hardest," he said.

However, the Lib Dems and Labour said no prices have been decided for the scheme, which is at a very early stage and costs would be balanced by cuts to road tax and lower rates for people in rural areas.

George Foulkes, the deputy chairman of Labour's election campaign, said: "What the government is proposing is a debate on road pricing, because congestion costs us 22 billion a year."

Annabel Goldie, the Scottish Tory leader, said the SNP was slow in speaking out.

Scotland's worst Road, page 20