Alistair Darling today unveiled a high tech vision to cut congestion on Britain's roads by half by replacing road and fuel tax with a pay-as-you-go road toll.

Mr Darling told members of the Social Market Foundation think-tank that radical action was essential to prevent Britain's roads from reaching gridlock within 20 years.

In his first major speech since the election, The Transport Secretary said that a feasibility study last year had set out a range of charges from 2p a mile up to £1.34 a mile on the busiest roads - but the maximum charge would be paid by only 0.5 per cent of drivers.

He stressed that his proposals - which are unlikely to become reality before 2015 - are not designed to force people out of their cars, but instead to make more efficient use of the existing road network.

He said: "A national scheme has the potential to reduce urban congestion by nearly half. And the study said this could be achieved by more than half of the traffic paying less than it would otherwise be paying in fuel taxes, and only a small proportion of traffic paying the highest charge levels."

Mr Darling acknowledged that "big questions" remained over the proposals, but warned: "It is essential that we start to do work now that will help us to deal with this problem. Our future prosperity depends on it.

"For those who would immediately baulk at such a radical change as road pricing, think about the alternative. The prospect of a system becoming slowly but surely gridlocked, like you can see in many American cities every day of the year.

"What is certain is that the problem of congestion is going to get worse. Doing nothing is not an option."

Mr Darling said that the proposals would need the support of other political parties and the public.

"We need a consensus because moving to road pricing - charging on the basis of distance travelled varied according to how congested a road is - would be a radical change from where we are now. Planning and delivery would span several Parliaments."

He had invited the Tory and Liberal Democrat transport spokesman to discuss the plans, he added. "And consensus amongst politicians is not enough. We need to learn the lessons from Europe over the last few weeks, and recognise the need to take the public with us.

"Public support is important. If you can’t persuade the public that there is ‘something in it for you’, then we are unlikely to get off the starting blocks.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Oh no, Mr Darling: you have failed
• BBC survives dogfight over Kennel Club expose
• Where the Rosetta belongs can’t be set in stone