City motorists will pay highest taxes in UK - Miles Briggs

The consultation, which has been online since mid-November, is seeking feedback from residents and businesses on the plans to charge people up to £500 per year to park at their place of work. The council have not made it clear yet if the business or the employee will pay this proposed tax, but the understanding is that it will be at the discretion of the business if they pass this tax on to the employee.

When the legislation passed through Holyrood the Scottish Conservatives opposed giving councils the powers to impose this tax on businesses. The new levy is an indiscriminate tax, insofar as it will impact those on lower incomes the most. For many people a car is essential for getting to their place of work and an extra £60 per month is a significant amount of money for families, especially during a cost of living crisis. In some instances families will have two people who park at work, doubling the amount a family is paying, up to £1,000 per year.

What this legislation is doing is effectively pricing people out of being able to afford to park at their place of work. For those businesses that can afford it, they will simply absorb the cost and not pass it on to their employees. For businesses which are struggling, in what is a tough economic climate, they are more likely to pass this cost on to their employees. Employees will then be directly impacted by this additional tax on motorists, at the worst possible time.

In the online consultation it says “Edinburgh has not made any decision on the WPL and your feedback from this survey will inform future choices”, however they have already made it clear that they wish to introduce this levy at the earliest possibility. Two years ago I warned that Edinburgh motorists are going to become the highest taxed in the UK. Between the introduction of Low Emission Zones, increased parking charges and now this new tax on people parking at their place of work, we are not far away from this becoming a reality.

For those businesses and residents who are opposed to being charged for parking spaces at their place of work, make your voice heard before Tuesday 6th February at consultationhub.edinburgh.gov.uk/cg/wpl/

I have relaunched my petition to save the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion after SNP ministers withdrew funding for a replacement hospital, for the second time in three years.

At FMQs last Thursday, the First Minister stated there is “no doubting” that the Eye Pavilion does need to be built”. A significant campaigning effort, following the original decision to withdraw funding for a replacement eye hospital, led to the previous First Minister U-turning and reinstating funding for a replacement hospital. The current eye pavilion is no longer fit for purpose with an extensive list of maintenance issues that the health board needs to keep on top off.

In NHS Lothian there are significant waiting times for routine eye treatments, which requires a fully functioning operational hospital, to reduce waits for treatments. The current Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion is a centre for excellence which is at risk of being lost due to the mismanagement of budgets by SNP ministers.

Please sign my petition and show your support for funding to be reinstated for a replacement Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion at www.edinburghconservatives.org.uk/campaigns/save-edinburghs-new-eye-hospital

Miles Briggs is an MSP for Lothian