The 250,000 city workers facing levy for commuting
UP TO 250,000 people who drive to work in Scotland’s two biggest cities face being hammered by the SNP’s new tax on parking spaces.
An analysis of official figures from Scotland’s census shows 255,381 travel to work by car or van in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
And more than half of these journeys are made by commuters who travel in from other local authority areas.
Many of those who drive to work are given a parking space by their employer, which could soon be liable for an annual charge as high as £415.
The city councils of both Glasgow and Edinburgh have said they are interested in introducing a workplace parking levy if they are handed new powers.
At the weekend, Nicola Sturgeon attempted to play down the threat by telling Conservative activists campaigning against the levy in Perth that it would be up to the Tory-run council in the city to decide whether to introduce it.
Yet huge numbers of workers travelling to Glasgow and Edinburgh would face the charge even if the council where they live opted not to introduce it.
Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘These shocking figures show that even if only Glasgow and Edinburgh decide to go ahead and impose this levy, hundreds of thousands of commuters from those cities, and many other parts of Scotland, could be hit by the SNP’s car park tax. That’s thousands of people doing the right thing – going to work – and being punished by the SNP for the effort.
‘When public transport is so bad, leaving no option but to take the car, it is a total disgrace.’
He added: ‘There’s been no consultation and no thought put into this absurd tax. For everybody’s sakes, Nicola Sturgeon should listen for once and bin it now.’
The 2011 census showed that 109,887 people travelled to work by car or van in Edinburgh, as well as 145,494 in Glasgow.
In Edinburgh, 54,142 of these journeys were made from inside the city boundary. In Glasgow, the figure was 55,113.
Top commuting areas into Edinburgh were West Lothian, Midlothian, East Lothian and Fife.
In Glasgow, the top areas were South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and East Dunbartonshire.
Responding on Twitter to a social media message from Conservative activists, the First Minister said: ‘This is a proposed discretionary power for councils. The Tories lead P&K (Perth and Kinross) council so only they can introduce it in Perth – and if they don’t agree with it, they don’t have to. What an own goal.’
The census figures showed 1,137 commute to Edinburgh from Perth and Kinross by car or van, while 252 do so from the area to Glasgow.
Glasgow City Council, which has already recommended a non-residential parking levy, is controlled by the SNP, while City of Edinburgh Council, which is also interested in the charge, is run by the SNP and Labour.
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay yesterday defended the plan to give councils the power to decide whether to introduce the levy.
He said: ‘I can’t be clearer, this is a Budget concession. I think it was really important we got a £42billion Budget through.’
He added: ‘It’s a power for councils to consider but I’m not saying that councils should use that power. It’s up to them. That’s the point of localism.’