David Millward and Brendan Carlin
London
Telegraph
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Tony Blair insisted he would press ahead with pilot road pricing
schemes yesterday despite more than 40,000 people signing a petition
against them in less than 24 hours.
Mr Blair's official spokesman sounded a defiant note as the number
of opponents to the proposals on the Downing Street website climbed.
More than 250,000 names are now listed at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/traveltax/.
He said: "The Government accepts that there is an argument
that has to be made on road pricing. People do feel strongly about
this issue. Feeling strongly, however, is not a substitute for
coming up with practical proposals.
"Doing nothing is not an option. Doing nothing means that
in 10 years, congestion will be 25 per cent worse."
Yesterday was the petition's busiest since it was posted on the
Downing Street website on Nov 20 by Peter Roberts, from Telford.
The spokesman said the Prime Minister — who was more an
"old-fashioned paper man than he is a computer wizard"
— was kept updated about the e-petitions.
But challenged as to how many No 10 website petitions had actually
led to a change in policy, the spokesman said that the online
petition process had only recently begun.
The Department for Transport sought to defuse the controversy
by insisting that, despite the plans for pilot schemes, the Government
remained open-minded about pressing ahead with road pricing for
the whole country.
"No decision has been taken on whether to implement a national
road pricing scheme," a spokesman said. "We are working
with local authorities to investigate the potential of local schemes
in tackling congestion.
"Until we see how pricing works in practice it would be
premature to decide whether we should take forward a national
scheme and what that scheme might look like."
This contrasted sharply with Mr Blair's tone when he appointed
Douglas Alexander Transport Secretary last July.
In his letter to Mr Alexander, he wrote: "We need to advance
the debate on the introduction of a national road-user charging
scheme.
"The successful roll-out of local schemes funded from the
Transport Innovation Fund will be critical. I would like you to
identify the other key steps for the successful introduction of
road-user charging within the next decade."
Mr Alexander was even more unequivocal a month later when he
made his pitch for a legislative slot in this parliamentary session
for a Bill to enable pilot pay-as-you-drive schemes to be started
in several parts of the country.
"It would also help to pave the way for a national road-pricing
scheme," he told Cabinet colleagues.
A senior Whitehall insider said there was greater enthusiasm
for road pricing among politicians than officials at the Transport
Department.
He described yesterday's statement as a tactical retreat while
the argument raged, rather than preparing the ground for the plans
to be scrapped completely.
John Spellar, a former transport minister and Labour MP for Warley,
said he believed the difficulties of introducing a national road
pricing scheme were becoming more apparent to ministers.
"I think they are looking at the complexities. It is relatively
straightforward to put a cordon around a city, but when you start
trying to do something like tracking millions of cars, it becomes
a lot more difficult."
Chris Grayling, the Tory transport spokesman said: "The
Government's transport strategy is all over the place.
A few months ago, a national road pricing scheme was a central
part of their strategy.
Now it looks as if either they may be going into full reverse
on their plans or they're trying to avoid telling people exactly
what they are trying to do."
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