Blair think tank given £45k by new road tax firm

13 April 2012

A German company set to cash in on Labour's new motoring tax is today revealed as a major donor to Tony Blair's favourite think tank which is the main cheerleader for the 'road pricing' plan.

Frankfurt-based T-Systems has created the gadgets that will allow the Government to spy on motorists by satellite and then charge them for every mile they drive.

The firm, part of Deutsche Telekom, has given £45,000 to the Institute of Public Policy Research, the main cheerleader for the 'road pricing' plan.

Its donation offers a revealing glimpse of the process that has led to this highly contentious scheme becoming a cornerstone of Labour's transport policy.

The electronic toll plan is facing a growing public revolt amid concerns that it will pile further costs on to hard-pressed motorists.

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By last night, a petition on the Downing Street website calling for the scheme to be shelved had a record-breaking 640,000 names. Petition organiser Peter Roberts said: "Only now is it starting to become clear how the Government has been hijacked by the road-pricing lobby."

The idea of a nationwide version of London's congestion charge has been debated among transport experts for a decade. But suddenly road pricing, which supporters claim would cut traffic jams and greenhouse gases, has emerged as official Labour policy.

One reason has been the IPPR, which has run a year-long project investigating how the new tax could be sold to a sceptical public.

The think tank said the total budget for the project was £135,000. It is understood that about a third of this was paid by T-Systems - which already operates a £2billion-a-year German road-charging system where HGVs are charged 13p a mile on autobahns.

Industry experts claim T-Systems would be in a leading position to win the UK contract, which is likely to include all traffic.

The IPPR said it had published ten reports calling for road charging since 1989. No one from T-Systems was available for comment.

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