Accept the BRIT
Page 8
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If Transport Minister John Reid wants a "get-out" of the mess his Government has created it's probably the BRIT. That's the British Road Infrastructure Tax disc system to you and me, as suggested by Conservative leader William Hague (see page 4).
Under Hague's proposal, every operator running a truck on Britain's roads—whether domestic or foreign—would have to buy a BRIT. But UK operators would then have an amount knocked off their vehide excise duty bills.
The BRIT has its attractions.
Foreign operators would no longer get to drive in Britain for free.
Their cheap fuel advantage would be addressed, at least in part. And the Treasury would still end up with a net gain.
It also has its faults. It doesn't address the wallet-busting rate of diesel duty—and that's the biggest thorn in the industry's side.
But it does have face-saving potential, and Government ministers love face-saving solutions when they've been backed into a corner.
A BRIT scheme would allow Reid to claim he'd listened to the industry and acted decisively (all politicians like to act decisively) to level the European playing field, even if he does nothing over diesel duty. And frankly we can't see the Treasury getting off the fuel escalator right now, although Chancellor Gordon Brown may feel differently as the next general election draws nigh and his backbenchers start to squeak.
The BRIT isn't the magic cure for the industry's ills. But if Reid has any sense he will accept a BRIT on behalf of the industry.