'Exemption will discourage green cars'

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The Mayor plans to give drivers of cars including Ford Fiestas and Vauxhall Corsas a 100 per cent discount on the £8-a-day charge.

But councillors in Westminster dismissed the proposals - which also include a £25 charge for gasguzzlers - as "gesture politics".

Westminster has piloted the first free on-street electric charging points in the country and was planning to roll out the scheme to a further 10 sites. This is on top of 48 charging points it already has in 13 of its car parks, making a total tally of 60.

Danny Chalkley, the council's Cabinet member for transport, said: "Electric cars with no emissions were catching on in London. Now, just as we were about to put in more electric charging points to encourage further take-up, the rug has been pulled from under us.

"Motorists will suddenly find there is little incentive to drive a truly green car."

He claimed the new emissionsbased charging scheme would lead to more congestion and a rise in pollution. Mr Chalkley said: "This scheme is using the green agenda as cover for raising revenue and will not protect public health or the environment.

"Giving up to 25,000 small cars free reign to drive into central London will just increase congestion and stationary traffic is a major cause of pollution.

"There's no incentive for people to use an electric or hybrid car and this could make many drivers who've made the effort to go green abandon what is a more expensive option for a small Ford Fiesta, which is just crazy."

Green groups also questioned the wisdom of allowing small cars to avoid the toll, saying it threatened the reduction in traffic levels gained since the congestion charge was introduced in February 2003.