Nicola Sturgeon is grilled on driving tax by Douglas Ross

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In Edinburgh, the SNP group has proposed a congestion charge on commuters entering the city boundary at peak times, while there is a suggestion that plans in Glasgow could include introducing road tolls at some point. The Scottish Conservatives have also consistently opposed the workplace parking levy.

The plans drawn up by the SNP in Edinburgh would see the 200 companies with more than 50 spaces be charged the equivalent of £2 per working day to park at work.

The Scottish Government’s strategy to deliver a promise to cut car journeys includes four key behaviour changes required of the public – to travel less and use online options if possible, to choose more local destinations, to switch to active travel and public transport and combining journeys and car sharing once possible after the pandemic.

But it also points to “further exploration” of “options for demand management to discourage car use, including pricing”, which will be set out in further research to be carried out this year.

Pointing out to the First Minister, Mr Ross said: “SNP members laugh about this but in many industries and across rural areas especially, people still need their cars.

“And right now, there couldn’t be a worse time to further hike the cost of driving.

“We are in the middle of the cost of living crisis. Petrol prices are rising globally.

“Yet Nicola Sturgeon wants to tax people off the road by hammering anyone who owns a car.

“And the people who will be hit hardest are not the wealthiest, but ordinary working people who need their cars and who are already struggling with the cost of living.

“If the First Minister carries on down this road, Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP candidates are going to force Scotland’s economy into the slow lane.

“The commuter tax should be abandoned.

“Toll charges should be ruled out, First Minister, and her work place parking tax should be ditched. First Minister, will you drop this triple whammy of the anti-driver taxes.”

In response, Ms Sturgeon said: “I don’t support road tolls but I do support local councils being empowered to consider the tough issues that they face, to consult with the public and to take sensible decisions.

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“Yes, people do continue to need their cars- particularly in rural remote parts of our country.

“What is hammering people, including motorists, right now across the country, is the Tory created cost-of-living crisis which an out-of-touch Prime Minister and an out-of-touch Chancellor of the Exchequer have refused to do enough about.”

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