NEWS RELEASE - March 21st 2000

The Budget and Transport: Brown undermines UK climate change strategy and starves public transport of investment

The announcement of reform to the Vehicle Excise Duty ("road tax") and company car tax framework is welcome - but nothing new. The commitment made late in his speech to a £280 million fund "to tackle congestion hot-spots and modernise public transport" is presumably primarily a restatement of the previously made commitment to increase Local Transport Plan spending in England from £750 million to £1000 million annually: whether this will mean any further investment in sustainable transport in Scotland remains to be demonstrated. (2)

Brown also announced tax reductions for road hauliers and has given the go-ahead for 44-tonne lorries to run on British roads from the start of 2001. Brown's sweeteners for the truckers surely raises questions as to whether the Government is serious in transferring freight from road to rail.

Colin Howden, Campaign Manager of TRANSform Scotland, said:
"Gordon Brown's attempts to present the Fuel Duty Escalator as merely for revenue-raising purposes is disingenuous - the policy has been the UK's main instrument in reducing greenhouse gases from transport, the fastest growing source of emissions. The Government's Climate Change Programme, launched only two weeks ago, said that the fuel duty escalator "had been very successful." Brown's decision to abolish the policy knocks a hole in the Labour Party's credibility in tackling climate change." (3)

The policy change reverses the party's previous policy commitment to continue the measure in place until 2002. The policy, introduced by the Conservatives in 1993 at 3% above inflation, increased to 5%, and increased by Brown himself in 1997 to 6% above inflation, was a recommendation of the UK's leading expert group on environmental issues, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in 1994.

Colin Howden continued: "Where Brown has went wrong is that he has failed to reinvest the revenues raised from fuel duties to support public transport and those with poor access to transport. Brown's decision not to ringfence revenues from fuel duty for transport investment will starve Scottish local authorities of the funds needed to radically improve public transport and conditions for pedestrians and cyclists." (4)

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

(1) TRANSform Scotland is the national sustainable transport campaign, bringing together 60 organisations - including transport operators, local authorities, national environment and conservation groups, chambers of commerce and local transport groups - interested in transport, the environment and a sustainable Scotland. We can be contacted at 72 Newhaven Road, Edinburgh, EH6 5QG. Tel.: 0131-467-7714; Fax: 0131-554-8656; E-mail: campaigns@transformscotland.org.uk; web: http://www.transformscotland.org.uk

(2) See, for example, DETR press release 145, 01/03/00: "Total money available for local transport plans to be raised from £755m in 2000/01 to £1bn in 2001/02." That is, a rise of £245 million.

If this speculation is true, it is possible that a portion of the £280 million could actually reach Scotland in the form of spending on sustainable transport. But given Scottish Finance Minister Jack McConnell's decision to find an extra £35 million for road construction - and nothing for sustainable transport - in the current Scottish Finance Bill, we remain to be convinced that any of this money will see the light of day in Scotland.

It is certainly possible that the £280 million equates to £245 million for LTPs in England + £35 million for road-building in Scotland, both previously announced.

(3) Draft UK Programme on Climate Change Programme (DETR), launched on 9th March, concluded in its section on fiscal measures in transport that "The fuel duty escalator has been very successful" (page 88, para. 30).

The Fuel Duty Escalator was the principle part of the UK programme to reduce climate change emissions from transport at 1 to 2.5 MtC (million tonnes of carbon) annually (previous calculations had put this figure higher at 2.5-5 MtC). By comparison, implementation of the UK Government's proposals for road pricing could save as little as 0.6 MtC annually (ibid, page 115). The largest proposed saving from transport comes from European Commission agreements with car manufacturers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from cars at 4 MtC.

(4) TRANSform Scotland has called on the Scottish Executive to increase the scale of the Scottish Public Transport Fund - currently stuck at £30 million a year - and to rename it the Sustainable Transport Fund so that innovative walking, cycling, traffic management and traffic calming policies can also be supported.

END OF NEWS RELEASE