Only in Britain would...

Only in Britain would a high-profile, ruling politician dare to declare war on cars, drivers and passengers on the eve of the nation"s prestigious and vitally important Motor Show. When America"s big auto exhibition is staged in Detroit, successive mayors of that city - regardless of their political colours - virtually queue up at the door in the biting cold, desperate to show their enthusiastic support for motor industry products and jobs. And it"s a similar story in other big motor show cities, where politicians display solidarity with the vehicle makers which provide employment, the workers who proudly make ever-improving cars, plus the consumers who buy them.

That"s because industrialised regions and countries - southern England and Britain included - profit greatly from the motor car. I"ll go further still and argue that vehicle manufacturing firms, their workers and their customers prop up the British economy. When huge car companies make healthy profits, they pay their taxes, and more, into the Treasury. When scores of thousands of Brits are directly or indirectly employed to do reasonably well-paid motor industry jobs, they pay further colossal sums to Chancellor Gordon Brown in income tax. And when consumers purchase their cars, they pay VAT on the vehicles and the fuel that powers them, plus countless other forms of taxation, from road fund licences to toll fees.

Since it was elected in 1997, the Labour Government has made not only billions of pounds, but hundreds of billions of pounds out of car and car-related firms, their workers and their customers. But not content with that, London Mayor Ken Livingstone - a leading and dangerously anti-car Labour politician - announч­ced on the eve of the British International Motor Show that he aims to charge some drivers чЈ25 per day if they have the temerity to drive medium-large saloons, sports cars and four-wheel drives on his patch.

What exactly is Livingstone trying to do? Sabotage the Motor Show, which brings piles of additional money into the capital? Kill off true-Brit companies such as Caterham, which is on his doorstep, and the likes of Land Rover, Jaguar and Aston Martin, which are all only a couple of hours up the road from London in Gaydon, Warwickshire? Or, at a highly sensitive and worrying time when thousands of MG Rover and Peugeot jobs are being transferred overseas, is Red Ken attempting to make even more car factory workers in Britain redundant by virtually outlawing some of the products they build?

At America"s big show, Detroit"s mayor queues up to get in. Here, Red Ken announces a new congestion charge of чЈ25

It"s like this: car-loathing Livingstone is, with Tony Blair"s approval and support, the guinea pig for the rest of Britain. If he can get through his proposed чЈ25-a-day congestion tax in London, that will pave the way for similar fatuous and obscenely priced motoring taxes in other British towns and cities.

As a consequence, sales of Land Rovers, Jaguars and Aston Martins will suffer greatly - which, in turn, could help kill off those and other UK-based car companies. It"s time for British and foreign-owned manufacturers and dealers in this country, together with 50 million drivers and passengers, to confront Tony Blair and ask what the hell is going on. Is his party trying to cull the motorist, which will have a disastrous effect on car manufacturers and the British workers they employ? If Ken and Tony carry on victimising the car and foolishly pretending that it"s public enemy number one, they will be biting off more than they can chew.

Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV"s Pulling Power and is founder of the Motorists" Association