Drivers 'at risk of pay-per-mile road tax' from Starmer

Tory claims Labour plan 'backdoor' nationwide Ulez

- Martyn Brown

KEIR Starmer is planning to sneak in clean air zones across the UK by rolling out a pay-per-mile road tax, a Cabinet Minister has claimed.

Mark Harper warned that bringing in a nationwide Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) would hammer families.

Labour leader Sir Keir signalled he had scrapped the party's commitment to rolling out Ulez across the country after London Mayor Sadiq Khan pressed ahead with the unpopular scheme in the capital last year.

But Transport Secretary Mr Harper said Labour had failed to explicitly rule out punitive road charging in its manifesto and will introduce it via the back door if they win the General Election.

The last Labour government U-turned on introducing road charging in the UK, which would have rolled out fees of up to £1.34 per mile at peak times or £2.29 per mile at today's prices.

Almost two million two million people signed a petition in 2007 opposing the plan.

The Tories claim that a national Ulez introduced by a new Labour government would mean motorists having to pay £68.70 for a 30-mile round trip between Derby and Nottingham, or £160.30 for a 70-mile round journey between Manchester and Liverpool. Rishi Sunak has already vowed to reverse the Ulez scheme in London and promised not to introduce payper-mile road pricing.

He will ban mayors and local councils from doing so, too.