Operators face a potential triple whammy in the chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 25 November with cuts to spending on local roads, the DVSA’s enforcement budget and an increase in fuel duty on the cards.
The government cuts, which will slash up to 30% off the DfT and the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) budgets over four years, were revealed by chancellor George Osborne in a speech at Imperial College last week.
He said: “These savings will be achieved by a combination of further efficiencies in departments, closing low-value programmes, and focusing on our priorities as a country.”
RHA has been briefed that capital programmes such as the £25m Road Infrastructure Programme will be exempt from the cuts but that other funding including the DVSA’s single enforcement budget will be hit.
“We’ve been told the DVSA budget will be affected by the cuts, but that is not to say it will reflect the 30% cut to the DfT budget,” said RHA policy director Jack Semple. “Our concern is that the axe will fall on local authority roads, creating a two-tier road system. We believe councils should be given adequate resources to fund these roads, which are equally important to our members.”
FTA director of policy Karen Dee echoed this: “We understand major road projects are unlikely to be affected. However, we are concerned that investment in smaller road projects and maintenance programmes could be hit by cuts to the DCLG.”
FairFuelUK has also renewed its call for a 3ppl cut in fuel duty to boost the UK economy, and warned against the government increasing duty as a reaction to the recent Volkswagen emissions scandal.
Semple added that any rise in fuel duty to offset cuts elsewhere will spell “economic disaster” for the haulage industry with implications for the wider economy.
The RHA is also pushing for a £150m training fund to ease the HGV driver shortage.
