Government Petition... Get Signing

[Guest macca]

Come to Australia - it's brilliant

 

 

I've applied for a PR Visa, but it takes the immigration dept 9 months to process it. should hear later this year.

 

EDIT: I signed the partition too (nearly 700,000 people have)

 

There is a counter petition with 175 signatures

Edited February 6, 2007 by macca

[Guest stu205]

YET ANOTHER WOOLLY KNITTING LEFTIE SPOUTING CRAP YET AGAIN!

 

one of the signatures on the For the travel tax

[Guest TerryBarry]

THIS will teach us to sign up - we are all going to get an e-mail from His Tonyness

[Guest pwlcarz]

Another thought on the Road Pricing Issue.

 

We assume (know) that the BG (Blair Government) will know where we drive and at what speed?

However, let's also assume that anyone with a Company Car will have their Road Tolls paid for by their Company - providing they are on Company business. What happens with PRIVATE mileage in a Company vehicle? How will that be charged and to whom? Will BG be SELLING details from their system to companies (what a good wheeze - bet they haven't even thought of that one!) so that Companies can claim their money back from employees? I wonder where privacy and data protection fall in this scenario?

 

I also wonder if this can be challenged in the European Courts on "rights to a private life grounds?

[Peter Bell]

The scary thing is I used to work with the Peter Roberts that has started this petition! just realised today when I saw him on the Tv. He was always trying to flog things at work, never bought any of his investments or insurance but did buy a water filter We all sort of admit that something will have to be done about congestion, but of course it is never us that cause it, it is all those others!

Answers on a post card please.

Peter

[Guest TerryBarry]

Just watched the "Newsnight" discussion on this subject on BBC2.

I've observed more reasoned discussion at the local kindergarten

[Guest salty_monk]

1.6 million have signed up & they've now shut it down....

 

Dan

[Guest salty_monk]

A typical politicians response from Toady Tony.....

 

A load of waffle that tells you nothing. Whatever he does will impact the lower income brackets more. It will just become a "poor tax" like the congestion charges. To those that money doesn't matter to it will have little impact.

 

Dan

 

 

E-petition: Response from the Prime Minister

 

The e-petition asking the Prime Minister to "Scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy" has now closed. This is a response from the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

 

Thank you for taking the time to register your views about road pricing on the Downing Street website.

 

This petition was posted shortly before we published the Eddington Study, an independent review of Britain's transport network. This study set out long-term challenges and options for our transport network.

 

It made clear that congestion is a major problem to which there is no easy answer. One aspect of the study was highlighting how road pricing could provide a solution to these problems and that advances in technology put these plans within our reach. Of course it would be ten years or more before any national scheme was technologically, never mind politically, feasible.

 

That is the backdrop to this issue. As my response makes clear, this is not about imposing "stealth taxes" or introducing "Big Brother" surveillance. This is a complex subject, which cannot be resolved without a thorough investigation of all the options, combined with a full and frank debate about the choices we face at a local and national level. That's why I hope this detailed response will address your concerns and set out how we intend to take this issue forward. I see this email as the beginning, not the end of the debate, and the links below provide an opportunity for you to take it further.

 

But let me be clear straight away: we have not made any decision about national road pricing. Indeed we are simply not yet in a position to do so. We are, for now, working with some local authorities that are interested in establishing local schemes to help address local congestion problems. Pricing is not being forced on any area, but any schemes would teach us more about how road pricing would work and inform decisions on a national scheme. And funds raised from these local schemes will be used to improve transport in those areas.

 

One thing I suspect we can all agree is that congestion is bad. It's bad for business because it disrupts the delivery of goods and services. It affects people's quality of life. And it is bad for the environment. That is why tackling congestion is a key priority for any Government.

 

Congestion is predicted to increase by 25% by 2015. This is being driven by economic prosperity. There are 6 million more vehicles on the road now than in 1997, and predictions are that this trend will continue.

 

Part of the solution is to improve public transport, and to make the most of the existing road network. We have more than doubled investment since 1997, spending £2.5 billion this year on buses and over £4 billion on trains - helping to explain why more people are using them than for decades. And we're committed to sustaining this investment, with over £140 billion of investment planned between now and 2015. We're also putting a great deal of effort into improving traffic flows - for example, over 1000 Highways Agency Traffic Officers now help to keep motorway traffic moving.

 

But all the evidence shows that improving public transport and tackling traffic bottlenecks will not by themselves prevent congestion getting worse. So we have a difficult choice to make about how we tackle the expected increase in congestion. This is a challenge that all political leaders have to face up to, and not just in the UK. For example, road pricing schemes are already in operation in Italy, Norway and Singapore, and others, such as the Netherlands, are developing schemes. Towns and cities across the world are looking at road pricing as a means of addressing congestion.

 

One option would be to allow congestion to grow unchecked. Given the forecast growth in traffic, doing nothing would mean that journeys within and between cities would take longer, and be less reliable. I think that would be bad for businesses, individuals and the environment. And the costs on us all will be real - congestion could cost an extra £22 billion in wasted time in England by 2025, of which £10-12 billion would be the direct cost on businesses.

 

A second option would be to try to build our way out of congestion. We could, of course, add new lanes to our motorways, widen roads in our congested city centres, and build new routes across the countryside. Certainly in some places new capacity will be part of the story. That is why we are widening the M25, M1 and M62. But I think people agree that we cannot simply build more and more roads, particularly when the evidence suggests that traffic quickly grows to fill any new capacity.

 

Tackling congestion in this way would also be extremely costly, requiring substantial sums to be diverted from other services such as education and health, or increases in taxes. If I tell you that one mile of new motorway costs as much as £30m, you'll have an idea of the sums this approach would entail.

 

That is why I believe that at least we need to explore the contribution road pricing can make to tackling congestion. It would not be in anyone's interests, especially those of motorists, to slam the door shut on road pricing without exploring it further.

 

It has been calculated that a national scheme - as part of a wider package of measures - could cut congestion significantly through small changes in our overall travel patterns. But any technology used would have to give definite guarantees about privacy being protected - as it should be. Existing technologies, such as mobile phones and pay-as-you-drive insurance schemes, may well be able to play a role here, by ensuring that the Government doesn't hold information about where vehicles have been. But there may also be opportunities presented by developments in new technology. Just as new medical technology is changing the NHS, so there will be changes in the transport sector. Our aim is to relieve traffic jams, not create a "Big Brother" society.

 

I know many people's biggest worry about road pricing is that it will be a "stealth tax" on motorists. It won't. Road pricing is about tackling congestion.

 

Clearly if we decided to move towards a system of national road pricing, there could be a case for moving away from the current system of motoring taxation. This could mean that those who use their car less, or can travel at less congested times, in less congested areas, for example in rural areas, would benefit from lower motoring costs overall. Those who travel longer distances at peak times and in more congested areas would pay more. But those are decisions for the future. At this stage, when no firm decision has been taken as to whether we will move towards a national scheme, stories about possible costs are simply not credible, since they depend on so many variables yet to be investigated, never mind decided.

 

Before we take any decisions about a national pricing scheme, we know that we have to have a system that works. A system that respects our privacy as individuals. A system that is fair. I fully accept that we don't have all the answers yet. That is why we are not rushing headlong into a national road pricing scheme. Before we take any decisions there would be further consultations. The public will, of course, have their say, as will Parliament.

 

We want to continue this debate, so that we can build a consensus around the best way to reduce congestion, protect the environment and support our businesses. If you want to find out more, please visit the attached links to more detailed information, and which also give opportunities to engage in further debate.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Tony Blair

Further information

 

Both the 10 Downing Street and Department for Transport websites offer much more information about road pricing.

 

This includes a range of independent viewpoints, both for and against.

 

You can also read the Eddington Report in full.

 

You can reply to this email by posting a question to Roads Minister Dr. Stephen Ladyman in a webchat on the No 10 website this Thursday.

 

There will be further opportunities in the coming months to get involved in the debate. You will receive one final e-mail from Downing Street to update you in due course

[Guest peter2b2002]

he says "for example in rural areas, would benefit from lower motoring costs overall." how?

is he going to cut road fund tax , fuel ,insurance or what

pete2b

[Guest timswait]

I think the plan is to scrap flat rate road tax and replace it with these pay as you drive charges. I don't disagree with the principle, it makes sense that someone who drives more should pay more. The problem is that it won't work. It'll need a fantastically complicated amount of infrastructure installed, some in cars, some at roadsides, which will all have to be paid for out of the new charges, so overall most people will end up paying more. What big government IT project has ever been completed at less than 2-3 times over budget and over-time? It will also mean paying more people to work at the DVLA to administer it all, but the DVLA are a bunch of monkeys who manage make a Horlicks of the present relatively simple system, so imagine what they'd do given a far more complex one. Cheats would still find ways of not paying (disabling the black box, fitting false plates, etc).

Scrap road tax, disband the DVLA and increase fuel duty instead I say. That way you pay for what you use, it's a simple system, easier to administer so would reduce costs overall, and it's a hard tax to evade.

[Guest chris brown]

Scrap road tax, disband the DVLA and increase fuel duty instead I say. That way you pay for what you use, it's a simple system, easier to administer so would reduce costs overall, and it's a hard tax to evade.

Don’t be silly Tim (that makes sense) that would get rid of thousands of civil servants where as dear Tony’s road pricing will require several thousand extra and will be a bit like the CSA where it costs something like 79p for every £1 collected and then there are there bonuses to pay as well. I wouldn’t trust any MP as far as I could through them.

 

As for his email well enough said

[Guest salty_monk]

I've always said Tim's suggestion is the best one. Put it on fuel duty & make sure all of it is spent on transport infrastructure including the trains etc.

 

People will always take the path of least resistance, if you could get a train from your door to work for 50p a day & it would guarantee to be there when you opened the door who wouldn't?

 

I hear they are trying a carpool scheme up north like they have here in CA, anyone have any experience of it yet?

 

It would work better in the UK than here as people live closer together plus the motorbikes & taxi's can use it & we have more of them too...

 

Lump them together with a bus lane with "pull offs" where the stops are, subsidised fares & free parking at train & bus stations plus secure parking for alternates such as push bikes & we might have something that works...

 

I also think they should make it much easier to take a push bike or similar on the train (even one of you old duffers could ride a "segway" type thing )

 

Dan

[Guest Eric]

Don’t be silly Tim (that makes sense) that would get rid of thousands of civil servants where as dear Tony’s road pricing will require several thousand extra and will be a bit like the CSA where it costs something like 79p for every £1 collected and then there are there bonuses to pay as well. I wouldn’t trust any MP as far as I could through them.

 

As for his email well enough said

sounds similar to something i heard the other day

 

the criminal asset recovery agency or some such thing

they've managed to recover 20 or 25 million pounds

unfortunately the agency's costs are something like 60 or 70 million

'God bless ya Tony'

 

ek

[Grizzly]

Anyone ever seen a Gippo's car/van/truck with a Tax Disc on?

What makes the Government think that they'll bring this lot (and all the other evaders) into line?

I'm already starting to begrudge top dollar taxation for my Kit Car and it's not even on the road yet!!

As has already been said, the ONLY solution is to tax the fuel - Too easy though eh?