By Richard Johnstone | 22 November 2011
The government has been warned it will face a backlash from rail commuters if fuel duty is frozen while train fares are subject to ‘punitive’ hikes.
The Campaign for Better Transport told Chancellor George Osborne today that he would face an angry response if his Autumn Statement next week postpones a 3p fuel duty rise planned for January 1. Rail commuters returning to work after the new year will be hit with increases as high as 13% due to the government’s fares formula.
Osborne has been under pressure from groups such as the Federation of Small Businesses to scrap the rise in fuel rate when he makes his statement on November 29.
However, the CBT says a freeze would cost £1.5bn, but save an average household only around £20 on the cost of their petrol next year.
The group has highlighted that rail commuters form large groups in many marginal constituencies. For example, there are 20.6 million annual visits to West Croydon station, while Conservative Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell has less than a 2,000 majority.
Brighton Kemptown Conservative MP Simon Kirby has a majority of less than 1,500, in a city where 13.8 million visits are made annually to Brighton station.
CBT chief executive Stephen Joseph said: ‘The government seems willing to sacrifice billions on fuel duty when it will hardly make a dent in families’ spending on driving, yet they are hitting public transport users with far more punitive increases when it will bring in only a fraction of the revenue.’
The warning comes as the RAC Foundation motoring charity called for greater investment in road improvements to accommodate growth in car use. In research published yesterday, it said there will at least 4 million more cars in the UK in the next 25 years and a strategy was urgently needed. This should include completing ‘scores’ of small-scale improvements.
Foundation director Stephen Glaister said: ‘We are not advocating a massive road building programme. We know we cannot build our way out of the nation’s forecast traffic problems, nor would we want to or afford to. But what we do need from government is a clear long-term strategy.’
Glaister called for 96 road projects that have been examined by government to be prioritised instead of funding plans for a high-speed rail line between Birmingham and London. He claimed the road projects would provide an economic benefit of £2.80 for every £1 invested, compared to an estimate of £1.60 in benefits for high-speed rail.
‘The government talks about promoting growth, so why doesn’t it make best use of taxpayers’ money by spending it on the 96 road schemes it has already judged to deliver fantastic returns?’
• The transport secretary has warned the rail industry that it will only receive funding from government in the future if it cuts costs.
Justine Greening was speaking after being briefed by the Rail Delivery Group of train operators on how the industry could save up to £1bn a year.
She warned that it was ‘straightforward and undeniable’ that the industry ‘will only be able to compete for future investment if its long-term cost issues are addressed’.
The group, which is made up of ten train operating companies and Network Rail, said it had made ‘early progress’ in deciding how to make the cost savings.
The government has been warned it will face a backlash from rail commuters if fuel duty is frozen while train fares are subject to ‘punitive’ hikes.
The Campaign for Better Transport told Chancellor George Osborne today that he would face an angry response if his Autumn Statement next week postpones a 3p fuel duty rise planned for January 1. Rail commuters returning to work after the new year will be hit with increases as high as 13% due to the government’s fares formula.
Osborne has been under pressure from groups such as the Federation of Small Businesses to scrap the rise in fuel rate when he makes his statement on November 29.
However, the CBT says a freeze would cost £1.5bn, but save an average household only around £20 on the cost of their petrol next year.
The group has highlighted that rail commuters form large groups in many marginal constituencies. For example, there are 20.6 million annual visits to West Croydon station, while Conservative Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell has less than a 2,000 majority.
Brighton Kemptown Conservative MP Simon Kirby has a majority of less than 1,500, in a city where 13.8 million visits are made annually to Brighton station.
CBT chief executive Stephen Joseph said: ‘The government seems willing to sacrifice billions on fuel duty when it will hardly make a dent in families’ spending on driving, yet they are hitting public transport users with far more punitive increases when it will bring in only a fraction of the revenue.’
The warning comes as the RAC Foundation motoring charity called for greater investment in road improvements to accommodate growth in car use. In research published yesterday, it said there will at least 4 million more cars in the UK in the next 25 years and a strategy was urgently needed. This should include completing ‘scores’ of small-scale improvements.
Foundation director Stephen Glaister said: ‘We are not advocating a massive road building programme. We know we cannot build our way out of the nation’s forecast traffic problems, nor would we want to or afford to. But what we do need from government is a clear long-term strategy.’
Glaister called for 96 road projects that have been examined by government to be prioritised instead of funding plans for a high-speed rail line between Birmingham and London. He claimed the road projects would provide an economic benefit of £2.80 for every £1 invested, compared to an estimate of £1.60 in benefits for high-speed rail.
‘The government talks about promoting growth, so why doesn’t it make best use of taxpayers’ money by spending it on the 96 road schemes it has already judged to deliver fantastic returns?’
• The transport secretary has warned the rail industry that it will only receive funding from government in the future if it cuts costs.
Justine Greening was speaking after being briefed by the Rail Delivery Group of train operators on how the industry could save up to £1bn a year.
She warned that it was ‘straightforward and undeniable’ that the industry ‘will only be able to compete for future investment if its long-term cost issues are addressed’.
The group, which is made up of ten train operating companies and Network Rail, said it had made ‘early progress’ in deciding how to make the cost savings.
