The Earl of Erroll has suggested that the introduction of a road pricing scheme in the UK could cause a ‘rise in divorce rates’ if they charge motorists for going about their daily lives, despite the Government insisting that it has ruled out implementing road user charging in any format.
The Daily Telegraph says that during a debate in the House of Lords on Thursday, the independent crossbench peer Earl of Erroll said: “Does the minister agree that there is in fact a huge privacy issue here? If, maybe in a marriage, someone can see where their other half has been going when they are not around, it could well cause a major rise in the divorce rate and other things.”
Responding, Labour minister Lord Livermore said:
“That is an interesting question, but it is one that I have no view on since we have no plans to introduce road pricing.”
The Earl of Errol’s intervention appeared to have been referring to concerns over the surveillance technologies necessary to make road pricing work.
The plusses and minuses of road pricing were summed up last year by Sir John Armitt, the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission.
“At the end of the day, if we’re going to pay [for using roads], we either pay through our taxation or we pay through the point of use,” he said in October 2024.
“People would probably not like this in terms of ‘Big Brother is watching you,’ [but] you could pay a different rate, per time of day, per type of road you were driving on, anywhere in the country, and you just get a bill,” he added.
While road pricing is very popular among transport think-tanks because of its potential to make extra profits for the public sector, the general public is largely against it.
Sir Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, considered charging motorists up to £2 per mile to drive in central London. The scheme was expected to be introduced in September 2026 as part of his drive to meet his Net Zero targets, but he later ruled out the plans, in part because of the Conservative victory in the 2023 Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election where the winning party campaigned heavily against Mayor Khan’s flagship Ulez scheme.
(Pic: Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament)
