The Road Pricing Bill is a pretty insidious piece of legislation.
It is a fact that already 80% of the price we pay for fuel in the UK is actually tax, road fund licence costs have risen far above the rate of inflation and public transport in most rural areas has been abandoned altogether. What's more, the majority of this revenue is leached into the government pot and the chancellor's war chest (a general term used to describe the funds available for use on anything unplanned in the annual budget) and not hypothecated for highway maintenance and improvement is evidenced by the deteriorating state of a large proportion of our roads.
These factors aside, what concerns me most about the bill is the erosion of our civil liberties which it represents – particularly when viewed in the context of other recent and impending legislation. Perhaps this is why the government has gone to such lengths to keep certain aspects of it out of the public eye.
For example and amongst other things, the Criminal Justice Act of 2003 made it possible for anyone to be arrested and charged with a criminal offence if more than three people assemble in a public place for any reason – okay, this hasn't really been acted upon yet as a general rule but the legislation to allow it now exists on statute. However, it should be noted that other parts of the same act, supposedly aimed at tackling possible terrorist threats, are already starting to be used to stifle hitherto legitimate and peaceful political protest – we no longer have the right to voice our objections to political decisions within a certain distance of Westminster. At the time we were assured that this was not what the act would be used for and yet, just four years on, it is the reality we all now have to live with.
Very soon, another bill is due to be read in parliament which will make it possible for anyone to be held in detention by the police for 90 days without charge. If provision for the last increase in custody is anything to go by, there will also be no requirement for the detainee to be told what he or she has been arrested for.
It's worth bearing in mind that history clearly shows us that where the power to exert political control over a population exists, even albeit for use only against a specific and transitory threat, within a generation the exploitation of that power is highly likely to become the norm upon the population as a whole. In military parlance, one might call it "mission drift".
Add to this the fact that the forthcoming Road Pricing Bill will make it compulsory for anyone using a car or motorcycle to be tracked anywhere in the country and for every journey to be logged in perpetuity and detail (and pay for the privilege), and you have a recipe for a totalitarian state in waiting.
Be afraid – be very afraid!
