The new Government and motoring

Speculation is mounting that the new Secretary of State for Transport will be appointed from within the ranks of the Liberal Democrat party.

However, while it has been announced that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have agreed a coalition, it has not yet been revealed who will act as cabinet ministers in the new government.

Despite this, both sides are reported to have tentatively agreed where the jobs will go, and unconfirmed reports suggest that the Liberal Democrats will head up transport, one of the key areas of the party's election manifesto.

Prior to the election, the Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Norman Baker said: "“We believe that maintaining the existing road network is essential and that sometimes there is a good economic case for building new roads locally. That is why we supported pledges to put more money into fixing potholes and would not cut the regional funding allocation for building strategic roads.

“However, we would require any new roads to meet strict economic and environmental criteria and are very wary of building huge new national motorways that can end up actually increasing traffic, cut through the green belt and damage the environment.

“We believe that motorists should be charged fairly for the use they make of the roads and in the longer term we want to move away from a system that taxes car ownership in favour of one that takes account of the use motorists make of the roads.

“And in the short term, we believe that fuel duty should be cut for remote, rural areas.”

The Liberal Democrats have never formed a government, but their attitude towards drivers is well reflected by Lib Dem local councils.

Most famously, the Lib Dem council in Richmond, south-west London, has introduced parking and resident permit charges based on CO2 emissions.

Zealous control of parking has been a Lib Dem favourite since the mid-2000s, when Islington council went on a de-parking rampage. It removed road-side parking spaces and hiked-up charges. Draconian enforcement ratcheted up the number of fines.