Sir Malcolm Rifkind's Column - No More Extensions

Yet as the congestion zone signs disappear, it is important to remember how such a venture came about in the first place.

The Western Extension Zone was the ultimate 'stealth tax' - a policy introduced on grounds that were divorced from the real objective.

We were told that the extension was needed to control congestion. Yet the true aim was to secure greater funds.

Regrettably, such an approach has become all too familiar.

The previous Government overextended the distribution of public funds, measuring success only by the amount of taxpayer funds that had been set aside for addressing a problem, and not the results that those efforts achieved.

The result was scores of tax increases here and there, creating minor annoyances in some cases, through to considerable disruption in the case of the Western Extension Zone.

The new Government has, quite sensibly, taken a different view.

It has not only decided to measures success by the outcomes of its efforts rather than the input from the public purse.

It has also sought to make a fair judgement of the spending that is necessary, and how it will all be funded.

Such an approach is not only an improvement, it is also a necessity. Even with all of Labour's tax increases, the UK still couldn't afford the wave of public spending increases that were instigated.

The Western Extension may be gone, but the chance of other ill advised plans being initiated remains.

Only by restoring balance between what the Government spends and what it taxes can we ensure that there are no more extensions in future.