This View has been written by Miles Briggs, Conservative MSP for Lothian
I have launched a campaign to stop the development of a framework for a congestion charge voted for by Edinburgh councillors, which could cost Midlothian motorists thousands.
The amendment was voted in by SNP, Green, and Labour councillors at Transport Committee in May 2025. This set in motion discussions with Glasgow council and other surrounding local authorities about the viability of a charging scheme for road users.
The only existing congestion charge in the UK is in London. Here, the data shows that the scheme has not reduced congestion. According to Inrix (a leading traffic analytics provider) London commuters spent an average of 91 hours in traffic in 2025, following an all-time record of 101 hours in 2024. It is currently the seventh most congested city in the world and the second most in Europe.
Congestion cost London drivers £1,252 each, on top of which they paid £18 per day or circa £4,500 annually in congestion charges (assuming circa 250 weekdays).
In Edinburgh, which was tenth on the Inrix UK congestion ranking in 2025, drivers spent 51 hours in congestion which cost them £702.
Assuming a working year of circa 250 days and a daily charge of around £3.50, commuters could pay more than £800 annually to enter the city.
I have warned that a congestion charge in Edinburgh is a ‘cash grab’ that will cost Midlothian drivers dearly and damage business, while having little impact on traffic in the city.
SNP, Labour, and Green councillors are trying once again to make life more expensive for drivers from Midlothian.
They tried this before in 2005 and were soundly defeated. The Scottish Conservatives stood by voters then and have continued to over the 20 years since.
London shows us that congestion charges do not necessarily reduce congestion. In fact, in 2024 London set an all-time record for time spent in traffic.
This is another lazy cash grab which unfairly punishes people for driving, backed by SNP councillors whose government is failing to address major infrastructure problems like the bypass, which costs our economy billions a year.
Yet another charge on visitors to the city on top of high parking charges, the low emissions zone, and the tourist tax will challenge small businesses even more.
At a time of soaring bills and deteriorating standards on Scotrail services to Edinburgh, this is not the time to entertain yet another tax on Midlothian’s drivers, which could cost them thousands a year.
That is why I am asking drivers to sign up to my campaign to stop a congestion charge in Edinburgh, sign up HERE.
Scottish Labour candidate for Midlothian North, Caitlin Stott
This View has been written by Caitlin Stott, Scottish Labour Candidate for the Midlothian North Constituency in the Scottish Elections in May.
Midlothian Council needs to introduce a full ban on mobile phones in all school classrooms. This matters to me as a mum, and because I know what it’s like when school stops being a safe place.
I was bullied badly at school. It made me realise that some places that should have been safe, just weren’t. The feeling never really leaves you.
But when I was at school, there were no mobile phones. As awful as it was, there were some places I could at least escape to. Classrooms and teachers I trusted were my refuge. When break times or lunch felt too dangerous, learning itself was my safe place. How much worse it could have been if that bullying had followed me home, into my bedroom, and into every corner of my life.
What I remember most is the powerlessness. The feeling that nothing I did could make it stop. That the people who loved me, my mum and dad, couldn’t protect me either. I have never felt so alone – My kids should never have to feel like that. And I’m determined to do anything and everything I can to spare kids in Midlothian from feeling like I did all those years ago.
It’s why I’m fighting to make sure Midlothian Council goes further on mobile phones in schools. Giving individual schools the option to ban phones is a start, but it’s not enough. We need the Council to give a clear statement of intent that the classrooms they are responsible for are places where children learn and grow safely, without social media, bullying and online pressure following them through the door.
Phones don’t just distract from learning. They magnify harm. They increase cyberbullying and remove any sense of refuge children might have. Worse still, they expose children to adults who can manipulate, groom and exploit them.
It’s also why I support Scottish Labour, and Anas Sarwar’s, call to ban social media for under-16s. I’m asking Midlothian’s councillors to look at this not just as a policy choice, but as a promise to our children and their parents that their classrooms are always safe places. I’ve launched a petition calling for a ban on mobile phones in all Midlothian classrooms. You can add your voice here: https://survey.labour.org.uk/phones-in-school.
The pot hole outside The Original Rosslyn Inn.
This View article has been written by Richard Harris, Director of The Original Rosslyn Inn.
The non domestic rates revaluation debacle the hospitality industry is enduring, what does it look like in real life?
A pot hole outside our front door, the failed repair catapulted onto the pavement by passing buses that offer vital transport to our team and customers.
– Who cares that the pot hole is there?
– Who paid for the failed repair?
– Who is accountable?
– Who cares that the pavement looks a mess and the pot hole is a hazard to all those crossing the street?
My guess, the small independent businesses that struggle to reinvest shrinking profits improving the kerb appeal to attract passing potential customers.
We have two properties and our non domestic rates have increased by 34% and 83%!
Who is out with a brush sweeping the council pavement and making the street we pay to trade on attractive? Us!
The eternal increases business and people see in taxation with sub standard and depleting services need to stop!
I see it through the hospitality prism but the frustration is apparent to everyone that contribute to the inefficient and failing system.
Stop the revaluation protect independent hospitality businesses and the streets we sweep and serve!
