EU must not introduce tolls or road pricing
Posted, September 02, 2010 @ 00:00
Brussels, 2nd September 2010 -- Conservative transport spokesman in the European Parliament Jacqueline Foster MEP has called on the European Commission to ensure that proposals to introduce road pricing and higher levies on fuel at an EU level must never get off the drawing board.
Her call comes after consultants AEA made the proposals in a paper commissioned by the EU's executive.
There was public outcry when the previous Labour government proposed a road pricing scheme, causing 1.8 million motorists to sign a petition against the plans on the Number Ten website.
Mrs Foster said:
"The European Commission can ask for different points of view about how we can make road travel more environmentally friendly but plans for road pricing and higher fuel levies must never make it off of the drawing board.
"Any decision to introduce tolls should be made at a national or local level, not by the EU. As the coalition government has made it clear that road pricing will not be introduced in the UK, it would be intolerable if it were to be introduced from Brussels.
"British drivers already pay high road tax and any additional measures from Brussels would hit British sovereignty and the British taxpayer. That's why these proposals must never see the light of day."