Transport Secretary Alistair Darling has admitted that the efforts to cut traffic congestion – a key milestone in the Government's 10-year transport plan – have failed. He told this morning's BBC Radio 4 Today programme that: “There's no point beating around the bush – we're not going to hit that.”

The interview followed yesterday's House of Commons statement in which Mr Darling admitted the problems in fulfilling the 10-year plan.

But he told the programme that there would be "significant reductions" in congestion over 10 years but given the high level of economic growth, more needed to be done.

It is expected that the Government is set to shift some of the blame for its traffic congestion failures onto local councils which have failed to implement a London-style congestion charging policy.