THE Government has been accused of secrecy and spin over the Transport Secretary's plan for road charging on a cost per mile. Conservative MEP Philip Bradbourne, has revealed the extent to which Alastair Darling has been working over the past two years on this very issue with the European Union.

Apparently, there is documentary evidence of secret meetings which took place two years ago at a hotel near Heathrow Airport between HM Customs and Excise, the Department for Transport and a German tolling company, in which the issue was debated and a contract for the digital mapping of every road in the UK discussed.

It is quite clear that, despite Mr Darling's protestations that this is not official Government policy, his department has been heavily involved in planning just such an EU-inspired tax.

As it now seems the referendum on the constitution has been "put on the back burner" surely the time is right to have one on, Stay in or, pull out of the European Union. I for one am sick and tired of being governed in secret.

TONY EAVES,

UKIP Mid-Worcestershire