UKIP campaign against 'stealth tax' on Wirral's motorists

UKIP activists and campaigners are holding a national day of action against tolling across the UK today, Tuesday, and are occupying strategic locations close road tolls.

They are displaying “Scrap the Tolls” banners and placards to show their support for the removal of tolls and their sympathy for long-suffering motorists who they believe have been treated as “cash cows” by successive governments.

Mersey Tunnel tolls have long been a source of irritation for Wirral drivers and have been panned as a “tax on Wirral.”

The hated tolls are usually increased annually, but this year they were frozen at £1.70 each way.

UKIP’s “Scrap the Tolls” campaign was launched by UKIP leader Nigel Farage in 2002, and this year’s protest has been dubbed the largest to date, with protestors and activists at the Wallasey tunnel, Dartford Crossing, Severn Crossing, Tyne Tunnel, M6 Toll Road and the London Congestion Charge Zone.

The party’s deputy leader Paul Nuttall is among those taking part in the protest in Wallasey today.

He said: “Our opposition to road tolling is longstanding, and our campaign gets larger every year. Road tolls are bad for the environment, bad for traffic congestion and bad for motorists’ wallets.

“They represent nothing more than a stealth tax on motorists who already pay road tax to use the public road network in the UK.”

UKIP deputy leader Paul Nuttall at the Wallasey Tunnel.

Last week, the Chancellor’s budget announcement of cuts in the Severn Bridge tolls was attacked by Mersey Tunnel campaigners.

John McGoldrick, secretary of Mersey Tunnel Users' Association, told the Globe: "If the Chancellor is reducing the Severn Bridge tolls in 2018, as he claims that he is, then why on Merseyside are we faced with the situation of ever-increasing tolls?

"It seems to us that concessions are being handed out to other parts of the country that we are just not getting here."