Friday 12th December 2008

Mancs Reject C-Charge

Manchester voters say NO to local authority plans

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Manchester voters have blown a huge hole in the local authority plans to charge for driving in the city with an overwhelming majority opposed to the scheme.

Rejection of the Labour spearheaded scheme to introduce a congestion charge to Manchester is also a huge embarrassment for the government, which had promised nearly £3bn of investment in public transport schemes if the city voted ‘yes’.

Residents of all ten Manchester boroughs voted decisively against the plans, with a turnout comfortably over 50 percent of the 2 million people eligible to vote – and the ‘no’ campaigners are understandably jubilant.

Transport minister Geoff Hoon was accused of trying to bully the electorate before the vote by claiming there would be ‘no plan B’ for Manchester if the C-charge scheme failed to win voter support.

However road pricing has now been rejected by two Labour controlled authorities – Edinburgh also voted ‘no’ in 2005 – and questions are already being raised in the media as to whether the government’s favoured ‘pay to drive’ approach can ever gain popular support.

[Tinohead]

Well done those guys!

[catso]

[roland82]

Its a shame the people of London didnt vote 'No' aswell, ahh democracy...

[peter pan]

This will sting the shower into some other nastiness.
Not content with taxing motorists to the hilt, and then spending(in comparison to what they receive from the UK motorist) almost nothing on the roads, the showers next nasty wheeze is to look at taxing work place parking. Will these f*ckers never give up in their quest to destroy the UK? and in particular those who have the nerve to want to go out, and do adays work!

[Gruffy]

Thank god for that. Come on Boris, ask the rest of London what they think of the wider Con Charge.

[havoc]

Congratulations Manchester!

[dazsmith69]

fkin brilliant!

[THX138]

[SJR202]

THX - that picture has made my day.
I dont live in Manchester anymore but am very happy the city voted no!!!
Well done guys.

[peter pan]

Only a general election will remove the threat posed by the shower of sh*t. already they are looking at taxing work place parking.
I dont hold out much if any hope, that any other party currently on offer will be better, but I have reached the stage now, where I dont care who gets in next, Even Donald Duck! just as long as the slack jawed a*se and his bunch of sleazy incompetents gets kicked out.

[bobfrance]

I am proud to have voted NO.

[PaulW21781]

I'd be interested to see the actual yes/no voting ratio of each borough tbh and I am extremely surprised that the results weren't 'fiddled'...

Still to the people of Manchester!

[CTE]

3bn of the 12bn....yeah £12000000000 (twelve thousand million pounds!!) of our money wasted on an insignificant VAT reduction could be used very wisely to improve public transport in a number of places, but no, they`ll tax us more to use roads we have already been taxed to death on, and they`re going to up the VAT to 20% in a couple of years time (so we are going to be paying nearly twice), and they will still have done nothing about improving public transport to help provide an alternative to sitting in a traffic jam for hours on end, cos we all really like doing that!

[Mannginger]

Excellent news against this local Tax burden.

Well done to the electorate for clearly stating their intentions. Having said that I'm sure that's what happened in Ireland over the EU Constitution...

[huge]

Great news.....but a WORD OF CAUTION......Edinburgh City Council took the hump after the vote and have now made it almost impossible to drive a car in the city......unfathomable one-way systems amd roads blocked to cars.....

I fully expect the Council in Manchester will spit the dummy in the same fashion

[97octane]

They are trying to tell you something, Gordo! Take a hint.

(Or maybe you could do the European thing and make them vote again?)

[gumsie]

Nothing but a stay of execution. The govt will get their pound of flesh somehow.

[3sixty]

PaulW21781 said:

I'd be interested to see the actual yes/no voting ratio of each borough tbh and I am extremely surprised that the results weren't 'fiddled'...

Still to the people of Manchester!

Manchester Yes 43,593 No 113,064
Turnout: 46.1%
Trafford Yes: 20,445 No: 83,568
Turnout: 63.6%
Wigan Yes: 27,810 No: 78,565
Turnout: 45.3%
Oldham Yes 17,571 No 68, 884
Turnout: 54.4%
Rochdale Yes 17,333 No 61,686
Turnout: 50.8%
Bolton Yes: 20, 529 No: 76,910
Turnout: 48.8%
Bury Yes: 16,563 No: 64,001
Turnout: 57.4%
Stockport Yes 24,090 No 103,706
Turnout: 59.0%
Tameside Yes 16,323 No 83,105
Turnout: 60.7%
Salford Yes: 14,603 No: 79,326
Turnout: 57.0%

[russellwatson17]

huge said:

Great news.....but a WORD OF CAUTION......Edinburgh City Council took the hump after the vote and have now made it almost impossible to drive a car in the city......unfathomable one-way systems amd roads blocked to cars.....

I fully expect the Council in Manchester will spit the dummy in the same fashion

And that new tram system being build doesnt help too much either!!

[The Black Flash]

Excellent. An absolute kicking was administered there.
I'm amazed they actually thought people might vote yes? Too much faith in their own propoganda I suppose.

Har Har fking Har!