As reported by the Telegraph
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Ministers are to perform a U-turn by shelving plans for a national road pricing scheme that would have cost motorists up to £1.30 a mile.
Leader: Some U-turns are good, Gordon Brown
Analysis: Public opinion forced common sense
Road to ruin: Telegraph campaign against road pricing
The Government has bowed to the groundswell of opposition which saw 1.8 million people back a Downing Street petition and a campaign by The Daily Telegraph calling for the proposals to be ditched.
The possibility of tracking every motorist's movements by satellite alarmed many
The sudden reversal on road pricing is the latest in a series of flagship policies advocated by Tony Blair to have been scrapped by Gordon Brown.
It follows the decision to abandon plans for a "super casino" and to review the current laws on cannabis and all-day drinking.
One senior Government source said national road pricing had fallen down the list of priorities – "it has been back burnered."
The retreat will be signalled by the Department for Transport this week in response to a back bench committee's report into the draft Local Transport Bill.
The Bill was seen as a staging post for a comprehensive scheme that would affect every driver.
This was made clear by Douglas Alexander, the former transport secretary, when he urged Cabinet colleagues to find a slot for the Bill in the last Queen's speech.
He wrote in August last year that it would "help to pave the way for a national road-pricing scheme in the medium to long term".
But next week MPs will be told by the DfT: "It is not the department's intention, at this stage, to take the separate powers needed to price the national road network."
The department will add: "We agree that there are congestion problems on parts of the strategic road network, but 88 per cent of congestion is in urban areas. Therefore it is sensible to prioritise the assessment of road pricing in these areas."
Peter Roberts, the campaigner who posted the petition on the Downing Street website, said he was delighted that the Government "listened to the voice of the people".
"I think it is a vindication of the 1.8 million who signed the petition," he said. "Without it the Government would have gone ahead. It is a good day for democracy."
The Tories seized on the decision as a sign that the Government had a lack of vision.
"This [road pricing] was their flagship policy and this is a dramatic U-turn," said Theresa Villiers, the party's transport spokesman.
"It shows a complete lack of direction. We have been urging them to scrap national road pricing for the last two years."
The new strategy – which is similar to proposals adopted by the Tories – will leave it to local authorities to decide whether they wish to introduce congestion busting schemes in their own areas.
This would apply even to areas containing local and national trunk roads. But even there the Government has run into trouble, with only Greater Manchester submitting a formal application to run a road pricing scheme.
The West Midlands, seen as another likely guinea pig, decided against drawing up a road pricing blueprint earlier this year.
The reversal of policy follows accusations that Labour has recently been stealing Conservative policies on inheritance tax, green taxes and "non-domiciled" UK residents. On Saturday, Andy Burnham, the chief secretary to the Treasury, proposed providing tax incentives for married couples, another Tory policy.
Plans for pay-as-you-drive road pricing were first drawn up by the Ministry of Transport in the 1960s. They were dusted off two years ago by Alistair Darling when he was transport secretary.
Warning that Britain faced gridlock, even if it built more roads, Mr Darling called for action to "manage demand".
But as details emerged of what road pricing entailed, public hostility grew.
The possibility of tracking every motorist's movements by satellite alarmed many privacy campaigners.
Shaken by the wave of hostility, the Government's position gradually shifted towards insisting that no final decision had been taken on a national scheme.
At the Labour conference, Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, said road pricing was "inevitable".
However, close friends swiftly stressed that she was still not committing the Government to a scheme involving the entire country.
In its response to the Transport Committee, the Government now appears to have killed off the possibility of a national scheme.
"This is very welcome," said John Spellar, a former Labour transport minister and vigorous opponent of road pricing.
There was a guarded welcome from AA Public Affairs. "I think there will be great relief from drivers," a spokesman said.
However, he said a network of local schemes could end with motorists paying more in some parts of the country without any reduction in fuel duty or car tax.
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There was a guarded welcome from AA Public Affairs.
Automobile Association my @rse...