In response to a possible Government announcement this week on charging diesel drivers to drive in a number of towns and cities across England, Karl McCartney MP, Conservative member of the Transport Select Committee, said: “The previous 'scrappage' scheme was one of the most stupid and wasteful uses of taxpayers' money in living memory, so I am pleased that the crass idea of repeating that mistake has been ruled out. Sadly, it is not for common sense reasons unfortunately, but because it is too costly - I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies.
"Remarkably, despite other vehicles, including 'planes, buses, lorries, trains, agricultural and construction vehicles and ships being far more polluting than privately owned cars, it seems that those in Government have been hoodwinked by the 'pseudo green' civil servants who don't live in the world of reality that the normal road user does. One suspects they view themselves as the metropolitan elite, espousing the 'new dawn' of electric vehicles with no thought about where all the electricity has to come from.
"It is a shame that the Government I am a part of treats the c35 million private car drivers in the UK as cash cows, through insurance, road and fuel taxes - and now punishes them further when they have done nothing wrong at all. If the Government and car makers had pulled their act together years ago, then drivers would have known the risks these taxes would be levied if they bought these types of vehicles. How were they to know?
“The solution is to only now levy this tax on those vehicles bought after the Government makes the announcement, not retrospectively. That would be simple and fair. Fairness would be to regulate the vehicles that cause 90% of the air pollution in the UK, yes, those with big lobby firms acting for them in the air and shipping and freight industry - but I doubt the supine media will examine such crass decisions of DEFRA and the Mayor of London’s spinning advisers, as they ‘chase their headlines’ and miss the glaringly obvious facts in front of them.”
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For further information, please contact Karl McCartney JP MP at [email protected] / 020 7219 7221.