Hot Topics Director's Soapbox Privatise our road network? That’s going to be most people’s reaction to recent news that ministers are thinking about selling off motorways and trunk roads to private contractors.
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| Roads Rip-Off |
| Written by Tim Green, the Director of RUA |
| Saturday, 10 April 2010 |
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However, with petrol prices at an all-time high - despite the cost of crude being lower than than the last peak (when oil was trading at $147 per barrel) - motorists will not be feeling much in the way of gratitude. UK fuel taxes are back at the top in EU and World terms. The road network is clogged and pot-holed roads are causing expensive repair bills. What a rip-off! What is the solution? If firms are to trade us back to solvency and salvage the pound so it can buy more dollars to fund crude oil purchases, a decent road network is the pre-requisite for the generation and distribution of wealth. What should RUA members do? Let’s give the political parties a harder time! In particular, we should challenge the idea that roads are a good “cut” to make; and that not building roads is somehow environmentally literate. We should demand policies which keep Britain moving at an affordable price. |
The budget announcement that fuel duty would only be increased by 1p per litre (plus VAT of course, and only for a few months before the next rise kicks in), implied that road users should somehow be grateful for this moderation.