'Tax 4x4s off the roads'

Drivers of four-by-fours should be "taxed off the road", the Liberal Democrats conference heard today.

The Lib-Dems condemned the vehicles as environmentally unfriendly and promised to introduce hefty taxes to deter motorists from buying them. In a searing attack, they also accused drivers of "Chelsea tractors" of putting pedestrians' lives at risk - saying the vehicles presented a particular danger to children.

The Lib-Dems want to overhaul road tax so bills depend on the type of car motorists drive. The chairman of the Lib-Dem parliamentary party, Matthew Taylor, said they would introduce incentives to persuade people to choose more fuel-efficient cars. "If you drive a huge American people carrier or four-wheel-drive you are going to pay more than if you drive a small fuel-efficient family car," he said.

"I think Chelsea tractors can expect to pay more. They are not environmental. They are also extremely dangerous. If you are hit by a family saloon, they are designed so you will ride off over the bonnet and you will be to some extent protected. But if you are hit by a four-by-four you are normally caught under the vehicle."

Lord Razzall, who chairs the party's elections team, said public pressure would help persuade motorists to abandon four-by-fours. "Individual freedom means they can carry on driving them until a campaign embarrasses them into not doing it," he said.

"That is what tends to happen. A few kids get killed around a school and people soon think 'Oh my God, do I want to drive to school in that?'"

Meanwhile, the Lib-Dems' treasury spokesman today admitted that betteroff families would pay more under the party's plans to scrap council tax.

Vince Cable confirmed his proposal for a local income tax would hit hardest where couples both work or brought home combined salaries "in the mid-£30,000s" or more.

But he said the majority of families would pay less and claimed his figures had been independently verified. "Seventy per cent of people would be better off," he said.