Morning:
20°c
Johnny Depp has become, in his young middle age, like a star of the movies’ golden period
Secret deal hatched by News of the World to hush up details of phone-tapping was sealed in a tiny room at the Royal Courts of Justice
More...
Scots won't have to pay £10-a-day road tolls
Last updated at 22:37pm on 25.11.06
Scottish cities will be exempt from new congestion charge laws
Motorists in England are facing punitive congestion charges of up to £10 a day but north of the border it's a different story.
Scotland will be exempt from Labour's new laws to be introduced in cities throughout England, a move which has infuriated English MPs.
One Labour backbencher is even planning his own law to impose a £1.50 charge on Scots who cross the border. The Government Bill backed by Transport Minister Douglas Alexander - who is also Secretary of State for Scotland - is to be published in the New Year.
It will lead to a string of schemes modelled on London's £8 congestion charge but in cities where public transport is far less well developed.
The move comes amid growing debate about the so-called West Lothian Question, the constitutional quirk which means Scottish MPs can vote on English laws while the English have only a limited say on what happens north of the border.
Veteran backbencher Andrew MacKinlay said that he was fed up with Scottish Ministers imposing levies on Middle England which their own constituents did not pay.
The MP for Thurrock, Essex, said he was serious about introducing his Road Pricing (Entry into England from Scotland) Bill.
Mr MacKinlay said: 'I am not anti-Scot. I did not deliberately set out to highlight the contradictions of the West Lothian Question. But a Bill like this is the only way I can hit back on behalf of my constituents.'
The Conservatives said they would not support Mr MacKinlay but, with an increase on the M25 Dartford crossing, they were suspicious of 'stealth charging'.
Tory Transport spokesman Chris Grayling said: 'If Labour is planning wider tolls, then it should be upfront about it.'
A spokesman for Mr Alexander said: 'The UK Government was elected by the people of the UK to govern the UK. That is what Ministers are doing and will continue to do.'
Reader views (1)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
When are the English going to wake up? We are denied life saving cancer and Altzheimer's drugs freely available to all in Scotland. We are denied free residential care for our aged people - in Scotland, they don't have to sell their houses to pay for it - the Scottish parliament picks up the tab. In Scotland, their students don't pay for top up fees - in England, our kids are hamstrung with crippling debt - and now this, road charging brought in by yet another Scot with a Scottish constituency poking his nose into another country's business...
The ONLY way to get a government that will actually look out for the people of England is to have a parliament for England. This will involve smaller government, less cost etc as the UK model at Westminster will automatically become an irrelevance and die. I don't know how many people know this but Westminster spends over 70% of its time debating purely English matters - it's just a pity they seem hell bent on destroying a once great nation in the process. So if the English business is taken away, the 20 odd % left can be given to a small federal executive made up from the 4 nations. That seems to be a logical and mature outcome - what a pity Blair, Brown et al have more akin to Attilla the Hun rather than a commitment to an honourable and honest democratic solution.
ENGLISH PARLIAMENT NOW!
- Alfie The Ok, Liverpool, England.
