Doherty seeks meeting with British Transport Minister to lobby against £1000 charge for 26 county road hauliers

Sinn Féin West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty has written to Westminster’s new Transport Minister Patrick McLoughlin seeking an urgent meeting to spell out the potentially disastrous consequences for the entire island economy of the Tory led government plans to charge road hauliers up to £1,000 a driver per year to enter the north from the 26 counties.

The local MP with responsibility for transport issues said,

“Once again we have an example of policy being formulated at Westminster which gives no consideration to the economic realities of this island.

“This announcement to charge hauliers up to £1,000 a driver per year to enter the north from the 26 counties is now being met with calls for a reciprocal move from the Irish Haulier Association for a similar charge for drivers from the north.

“Given ever-increasing fuel costs there is already a major strain on very tight operating margins for hauliers throughout the island and such additional taxes could lead to many firms going to the wall.   Moreover, in an effort to survive, increased costs of deliveries would be passed on to business and turn passed on, in the form of higher prices for goods, to consumers. So instead of kick-starting the economy, as the British Minister announcing this additional tax claims, it would actually lead to depressing it further.

“I have therefore written to the new Westminster Transport Minister seeking a meeting to outline the potentially disastrous consequences of this move and to press    the British government to exempt the haulage traffic on the island of Ireland from these charges.

“At the North South Ministerial Council one of the main thrusts is to remove barriers to trade on an all-Ireland basis in order to help to build the economy across the island. Taxes such as this will only have the opposite effect.”