Scottish Conservatives are robustly opposing SNP plans to implement a boundary-toll tax for people who live in East Renfrewshire.
SNP-run Glasgow City Council intends to put in place a charge for East Renfrewshire motorists every time that they cross the local authority boundary.
The SNP local authority is also proposing the introduction of a toll on using the Clyde Tunnel.
In the joint budget approved by the SNP Administration and Green council group last year, it was set out that Glasgow City Council would seek to formulate plans for an at-city-boundary congestion charge and the tolling of the Clyde Tunnel.
This commitment was reiterated at the council’s Transport Committee in August.
If a boundary charge is implemented, motorists who are travelling into the city from East Renfrewshire and all other neighbouring local authorities would be faced with having to pay simply for driving on Glasgow’s roads including for work, education and family reasons.
On every car journey for essential medical treatment at healthcare facilities in Glasgow such as the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, motorists would be expected to pay the boundary congestion charge.
The introduction of a new charge for patients and their families who are traveling by car to access critical healthcare support in Glasgow highlights the ridiculous nature of the proposal.
Motorists could be forced to pay two separate road charges on the same journey into Glasgow if they also need to pass through the Clyde Tunnel.
Glasgow residents would be exempt but people from every other local authority would be charged.
If all other councils responded by following Glasgow’s example and brought in equivalent measures then motorists would end up being charged every time that they crossed a city or council boundary, anywhere in Scotland.
That would be a completely unfair and unrealistic burden for motorists and with the potential to wreak havoc on Scotland’s economy.
At the Scottish Parliament in October, I raised the matter directly with Ministers in the Holyrood debating chamber and called on the SNP Transport Secretary, Fiona Hyslop to get round the table with her councillor colleagues in Glasgow to have the plans thrown out.
The Transport Secretary refused to call out the reckless disregard for the damage that could be inflicted upon the public by the SNP Administration in Glasgow and Ms Hyslop showed no interest in seeking to initiate discussions with local councillors on this important issue.
I was so dismayed by the SNP Transport Secretary’s response and the casual way in which she brushed aside Glasgow’s potential new road charges that I then brought a full debate for MSP’s on the boundary-toll tax proposals to The Scottish Parliament in November.
Sadly, the Transport Secretary again refused to intervene and the SNP Government has effectively provided Glasgow with a green light to introduce the new road charges for motorists in East Renfrewshire and other local authorities.
There has been a complete disinterest from The Scottish Government to properly engage with the implications for people in Eastwood and across Scotland should Glasgow City Council proceed to put in place the planned new road charges.
The SNP boundary-toll tax proposals must be stopped and Scottish Conservatives will be working vociferously to achieve this aim.
