Edinburgh could see congestion charge brought in by back door, claims MSP
Edinburgh could be landed with a congestion charge introduced by the back door, a Lothian Tory MSP has claimed.
Miles Briggs said a decision by the city council’s transport and environment committee in May paves the way for motorists to be charged for entering the Capital or a designated part of it.
But he said a congestion charge would be “a lazy cash grab” with no guarantee it would reduce congestion. And he has launched a campaign to stop it.
The committee’s decision in May was to seek “preliminary discussions” about road user charging with the other Lothian councils, Fife and Borders; Glasgow council; and transport body Sestrans. The first step would be to establish “whether there is common ground in our approach”.
A congestion charge in Edinburgh was decisively rejected in a referendum in 2005, when 74 per cent voted against the plan.
But Mr Briggs claimed: “They are going to try to do it completely differently from last time - instead of a referendum, they are doing it by stealth, without any need for the public to have their say. They think they can do it by the back door.”
He said his campaign was a chance for people to make their feelings known.
“SNP, Labour, and Green councillors are trying once again to make life more expensive for drivers in and around Edinburgh.
“They tried this before in 2005 and were soundly defeated. The Scottish Conservatives stood by voters then and have continued to over the 20 years since.”
He claimed London’s experience of a congestion charge showed it did not necessarily have the desired effect.
“The data shows that the scheme has not reduced congestion. According to Inrix, a leading traffic analytics provider, London commuters spent an average of 91 hours in traffic in 2025, following an all-time record of 101 hours in 2024. It is currently the seventh most congested city in the world and the second most in Europe.”
He said it was not clear what a congestion charge in Edinburgh would look like.
The 2005 proposal was for a £2 a day charge for motorists crossing either of two cordons, one around the city centre and one just inside the city bypass, both operating Monday-Friday. The inner cordon would have applied from 7am to 6.30pm, while the outer one would only be in force during the morning rush hour, from 7am to 10am. Motorists would have paid only one charge per day even if they crossed the cordons several times.
Mr Briggs said no-one had said whether a new charge would be for crossing the city boundary or a ring round the city centre or both.
But he said: “This is another lazy cash grab which unfairly punishes people for driving, backed by SNP councillors whose government is failing to address major infrastructure problems like the bypass, which costs our economy billions a year.
“Furthermore, yet another charge on visitors to the city on top of high parking charges, low emissions zone, and the tourist tax will challenge small businesses even more.
“At a time of soaring bills and deteriorating standards on Scotrail services to Edinburgh, this is not the time to entertain yet another tax on Lothian’s commuters, which could cost them thousands a year.”
However, transport convener Stephen Jenkinson said councils did not currently have the power to operate a congestion charge and such a charge was “not something being actively pursued at this time”.
He said officials from Edinburgh council had spoken to officials at Transport Scotland and other authorities and he had spoken to his counterpart in Glasgow, but he added: “It’s not something they’re actively pursuing either”.
And he accused Mr Briggs of “scaremongering”. He said: “Miles Briggs is attempting to worry people that it’s just around the corner. It is not currently a priority for the council. We don’t have the legislative powers to introduce a congestion charge even if we wanted to.”