Join our petition to say “yes to investment in public transport, without the blackmail of the congestion charge”

The imposition of the congestion charge in-spite of local opposition is a great example of New Labour’s top-down style of government.

A poll for the Manchester Evening News online found 85% were against the charge. The Federation fo Small Business found their members over 90% against the charge. The council’s own figures show congestion has decreased, and already its costing us a fortune, with 3 times the recommended amount being spent on the bid 6.6 million pounds to be paid for by Manchester tax payers.

82% of people would rather the city sell the airport rather than have the congestion charge, which would simply be selling one asset for another – Sir Richard Leese shockingly said that our council tax would have in excess of a 20% rise if it wasn’t for the subsidy from airport dividends. In true socialist style, the council is using a great financial asset to prop up their public spending, and all the time the airport group suffers from lack of private money, interests and management. What an absolute scandal that we’re actually getting such poor value for money from our council tax that we’d probably have the highest rates in the country without such subsidy. The council claims a dividend of 25 million, however if the money was simply in the bank it would pay interest of 150 million….what economic incompetence.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1010/1010499_councils_dismiss_airport_sale.html

Sit Richard Leese has written in the past that a congestion charge would be a disaster for Manchester and the region, and yet is is forced to take up the cause of bringing the charge here in order to have a chance of getting any funding for public transport in Manchester.

There has been a shocking lack of investment in Manchester since New Labour took power. Brown’s naive and short-term solution to the North South divide was to pump money into the north in the form pf public sector pay (which is now coming home to roost in the form of strikes over pay rises far below other public sector rises in recent years). In  the NE for example there are areas where 55% of people are employed by the state – he has essentially created a false socialist economy in the north, while bolstering a healthy market economy in the SE. Apparently according to Gordon Brown we’re not worthy of genuine investment in the north, not mature enough to cope with a market economy, so instead he has patronised us by flooding the north with extra public sector money and jobs in order to give the illusion of a healthier economy.

What the north really needs is what was talked about at the recent Conservative Party conference by people such as Lord Heseltine, Eric Pickles and George Osborne – genuine investment in infrastructure, education and training.

The Development Corporations un Heseltine had transformed Manchester into what we see today. They created Albert dock in Liverpool, and Castlefield in Manchester and paved the way for the city centre living revolution. The Central Manchester Development Corporation created the Castlefield Arena, waterside attractions and living, the Roman Fort for example. Since then, the city council has allowed Castlefield to decline.

The last Conservative government saw the need for infrastructure and allocated £500 million for the Metro tram system. After the pilot of the Altrincham line, the money was to fund the so called ‘Big Bang’ that we are now still waiting for after 10 years of New Labour. Even a Labour MP, Graham Stringer, has gone on record saying that the reason the system wasn’t delivered was because the New Labour department for transport was anti-light rail, and the ’dithering’ of that department stalling the progress was what caused the price inflation leading to the eventual collapse of the system.

This pretty much brings us up to date today, far from the Conservative vision for Manchester with an extensive light rail system, and now unattainable, say Labour. unless we agree to be their testing ground for road-charging. The reason I cannot support this is because it represents Labour’s biggest failure, a failure to provide genuine investment in the North to help cities like Manchester grow. Cities of far less apparent wealth and importance such as Valencia have a subway system and trams, as does Milan, Vienna and a host of other European cities. No German city, with their system of greater autonomy for local government, would stand for such lack of infrastructure, and indeed its something Germans often comment upon when visiting Manchester.

My biggest fear is that we’ll get the charge, plummet even further down the rankings of economic competitiveness (only two UK cities other than London are in Europe’s top 50 – Leeds and Bristol) and STILL not end up with great transport infrastructure because if Metrolink has taught us anything its shown the money can be allocated, the will can be there, consensus drawn (far more than for the current Congestion Charge plans) and yet delivery can still be a million miles from satisfactory – 10 years late and over budget and counting…..come on Manchester, what will it be? Say YES to investment, but without the blackmail from the New Labour government who clearly don’t care about our city as they pretend, and try to take credit for everything about our city that is due to the previous Conservative government in terms of funding, and vision.