Road plan dropped

Published on Saturday 3 March 2007 01:35

THE Liberal Democrats have abandoned plans to push for pay-as-you-drive road charging in Scotland ahead of the rest of Britain.

Labour's coalition partners have admitted defeat in seeking to wrest control of motoring taxes from Westminster.

Tavish Scott, the Lib Dem transport minister, complained last month of "glacial progress" over road pricing. He said that if re-elected in May, he would seek to cut vehicle tax and fuel duty in Scotland as part of the introduction of the scheme.

But the party has now effectively fallen into line with Scottish Executive policy - that road pricing should be introduced as a UK-wide initiative. This is expected to happen in the middle of the next decade.

Mr Scott has already said he does not expect any trial of the scheme in Scotland like those proposed for English cities such as Manchester or Birmingham.

The SNP accused the minister of "veering all over the road" on the policy, while the Conservatives said he had created a smokescreen.

In response to a written question from Edinburgh Tory MSP David McLetchie, Mr Scott stated: "The Scottish Executive does not support penalising motorists. There will be no Scotland-wide or UK-wide road pricing in the next four years during the lifetime of the next parliament. We will continue to invest in public transport across Scotland to reduce congestion and encourage people out of their cars."