Government plans to cut congestion via a national road charging scheme are "in tatters", the Conservatives have said.

The claim came as Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly admitted concerns about privacy, fairness and enforcement could not yet be satisfactorily answered.

More pilot schemes were needed with any scheme "many years" away, she said.

She said that a more immediate way of cutting congestion was to let drivers use the hard shoulder on parts of the M1, M6, M62, M27, M4 and M5.

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The move follows a successful trial on the M42 near Birmingham, where the hard shoulder was used as an extra lane and the speed limit reduced to 50mph.

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Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said the government's policies on congestion "now lie in tatters".

The announcement was "further evidence that their flagship proposal for a spy in the sky national road pricing scheme is going nowhere".

"They should now rule this option out completely," she said.

Lib Dem Norman Baker described the measure as a "dogs dinner of a policy".

"A national road pricing scheme to replace other road taxes is undoubtedly the way forward, but this latest fudge from ministers will please nobody.

"It confuses the purpose of a hard shoulder, which we have been told for decades exists for safety reasons."

In a keynote speech, Ms Kelly said the hard-shoulder option would also include motorways which join the M25, such as the M20 and M3.

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