Byers blamed as car curbs are postponed
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Your support makes all the difference.The Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers, is today under fresh attack from MPs over the Government's transport plans for the next decade.
A new report by the Labour-dominated select committee on transport lambasts the Government for not doing enough to curb car use.
But it also implies that Mr Byers is being made the fall guy for transport decisions imposed upon him by No 10. Mr Byers has told friends that he may not survive a reshuffle if Tony Blair decides to change his Cabinet in July.
The committee, chaired by Labour stalwart Gwyneth Dunwoody, criticises Mr Byers for "turning his back" on congestion charging – a plan promoted by his predecessor John Prescott but strongly resisted by No 10, which was keen to placate motorists after the fuel protests.
MPs concede that congestion charging on many roads would be controversial, but claim that without it, most of the sums in the 10-year transport plan do not add up.
Mr Byers on Friday ordered teams who are drawing up regional plans for transport to stop making assumptions that road charges could be brought in within the next 10 years.
Accusing Mr Byers of failing to show leadership, the MPs say charging was a "cornerstone" of the Government's transport White Paper but has been downplayed.
"No more than a handful of large-scale congestion charging schemes will actually be brought forward by 2010. Even if major cities introduce charging schemes ... they will still struggle to meet the Government's targets for congestion reduction," say the MPs.
They say congestion charging at peak times "could have a greater impact on congestion levels than all of the investment in the 10-year plan".
Last night Mr Byers said: "The 10-year plan provides a broad framework for the improvement of our transport systems. As the select committee says, it provides benefits for those who travel the most. We shouldn't be criticised for this as it is exactly the outcome I want to see. I am not in the business of punishing the vast majority of people who choose to travel by car. The top priority is to ... improve our public transport system."
The committee was also highly critical of the Prime Minister for appearing to take his personal transport "tsar", Lord Birt, more seriously than either the Transport Secretary or the Government's own expert transport commission.
Lord Birt, whose report proposing a new generation of super highways with French-style tolls was leaked last week, is dismissed with near contempt by the MPs.
"Blue-skies thinking from casual enthusiasts such as Lord Birt is no substitute for a considered analysis of the impacts of future policies that the Government has hitherto been reluctant to consider," say the MPs.
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