Policy Announcements, Thursday 16 August

**Conservatives **

• A Conservative policy group is to recommend raising charges for foreign lorries to generate £10bn for road improvements, according to reports. John Redwood's economic competitiveness review group, which reports on Friday, believes foreign lorries should pay to help ease congestion because they pay far less in diesel tax than British drivers. According to Thursday's Times, it will propose a charge-per-mile for all lorries - but with corresponding cuts in fuel or excise duty for British hauliers to mean their overall level of taxation would not rise. Local authorities would be able to bid for the money raised to pay for schemes such as junction improvements and road-widening.