The Liberal Democrats plan to raise £12bn from a tariff scheme on lorries using motorways in the UK. At the party's annual conference in Brighton, environment spokesman Chris Huhne said the money raised would come from motorway tolls. It would then go into a ring-fenced fund to pay for the Crossrail programme in London and a high-speed rail link from the capital to the north of England.
Huhne claimed the plans were part of the party's proposals to make Britain carbon neutral by 2050. He
added: "We are the first British political party to tackle global emissions from every part of our economy."
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party is being urged to support longer heavier vehicles and urban distribution centres. Its Quality of Life Working Party, acknowledges that trucks weighing "less than 10 tonnes can produce up to five-times more carbon than the most efficient large HGVs, which are only slightly more polluting than freight trains".
The working party also states that road freight accounts for "around 8% of the UK's CO2 emissions".
A further report from the Climate Change Working Group of the Commission for Integrated Transport, claims CO2 emissions in the UK could be reduced by increasing the volume of goods transported by rail. Currently, rail accounts for just 1.1% of all UK domestic CO2 transport emissions, it says, while claiming haulage accounts for 22% of emissions.
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