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national road user charging
With the election not far off, where do the 3 main parties stand on national road user charging? We contacted all three; so far two have replied.

The Department for Transport (for Labour) in a brief reply said, "the Government has no plans for national road user charging".

With a hung parliament a distinct possibility, the view of the Liberal Democrats is more relevant than usual, and their more expansive response included, "UK-wide, the long-term policy of the Liberal Democrats is to move to a revenue-neutral road user pricing scheme on motorways and trunk roads, while scrapping Vehicle Excise Duty completely and reducing fuel duty". Perhaps such an approach offers the best chance of getting more drivers to sign up for voluntary "black-box" schemes which would at least pilot the potential technology and move the discussion on.

The Conservatives have yet to reply.
04.03.10 @ 05:59 PM CST [link]