'Costly if Labour slants policy review'
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TWO road transport organisations have warned the Government against slanting its transport policy review—due out next month —in favour of the railways.
British Roads Federation chairman Mr Tony de Boer said this week that rail subsidies are now costing the average family £26 a year. He accused the rail unions of "pulling the wool over our eyes by a campaign of misstatement and outright deception."
The Government was backing down before what he called a "relentless campaign of scare-mongering waged by the rail unions. Mr Crosland has not the courage to face up to the unions and deal firmly with the problems of British Rail." Roads programmes were essential to the economy, he said, but it was the highways programme that had bourne the heaviest share of Government cuts. "In real terms, road investment by central and local government will fall by 20 and 35 per cent on 1970/71 levels. On the other hand, transport subsidies will rise 249 per cent by the end of the decade."
Freight Transport Association vice-chairman Mr Ian Phillips told the Lincolnshire division this week that there was no way "swingeing increases in road taxation either on road fund tax or fuel tax or both could be justified.
"Everybody knows that increasing road tax is just a derberate plank of moving traffic from road to rail and it just won't work," he said.
He said that although the social costs might be in dispute what was not disputed was the fact that substantial tonnages of traffic would not be moved from road to rail by these or other financial devices.
Whatever the reasons for increasing taxation, the simple result would be a massive increase in the cost of moving goods and this would end up coming out of the housewife's purse.
• Hauliers paid about £2,310m in taxation on fuel and VAT on vehicles in the year 1974/5, the Commons heard last week. Mr Denzil Davies told the House that public expenditure on roads in the UK during that year was £1,270m.