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.
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