Pay Up or Else!
Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 05:00PM 
You've read about protection rackets many times. In Palermo, for example, it is estimated that over half of the city's businesses are owned by, or have connections to, the Mafia. Back in the Spring of 2006 students and business owners in the city rallied against the 'pizzo' - money paid by shopkeepers to the Mafia to ensure that their businesses do not 'accidentally' catch fire in the dead of night. In short, you pay a dividend to the Mafia, and they ensure your daily well-being.
A new form of 'pizzo' could be in the pipeline for a very different city to Palermo. Two thousand miles north west of Palermo is Manchester: a city where the Mafia is embodied by the local authorities; and the 'pizzo' is represented by a potential blackmailing scheme of expensive proportions. Like the Mafia, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities will guarantee the well-being of its targeted groups, but only if a 'pizzo' - in the form of a £5 congestion charge - is voted via a county-wide ballot into operation. Otherwise Manchester and its metropolitan area (the third largest in the UK with a population of 2.5 million) will have to suffer substandard public transport for the indefinite future.
Were it not for the spinning of government propaganda, such a blatant attempt to screw money from the public would be called a 'protection racket'. In this instance the 'Yes' lobby actually pretend that they are trying to do you a favour! Some £3 billion has been earmarked for buses, trains and trams. However, should the electorate of Greater Manchester say 'No' (as I hope they will), the offer will be taken off the table.
What is so appalling about this congestion charge scheme is not only its cost to the motorist, but its geographical extent. Unlike London's system, which principally includes what most of us would regard as the centre of the capital, the project envisaged for Manchester will cover the entire area enveloped by the M60 orbital motorway. This effectively means that people who do not wish to avail of shopping facilities in Manchester city centre will still have to pay to access neighbouring towns such as Salford, Swinton and Stretford, where the Trafford Centre is located. To put this into a London perspective, it would akin to extending the charge there to cover Croydon, Kingston, Hounslow and Waltham Forest.
There are 10 local authorities in the Greater Manchester area. These are Bolton, Bury, City of Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. The Conservative-run councils (Bury and Trafford) have always been against the introduction of the charge, as has Stockport (Liberal Democrat). However, the remaining seven councils (including four where the Labour vote is weighed in tonnage rather than counted) have all strongly backed the proposal.
However much I wish for improved public transport, I detest blackmail. Less than a sixth of the money paid in road tax is ploughed back into the transport infrastructure of this country. What of the ever-spiralling Council Tax? Don't the various governmental bodies in Britain already have enough money torn from the clutches of their respective citizens without resorting to unashamed bribery? Make no mistake, if the people are foolish enough to endorse this proposal it will give a green light to the progressive introduction of comparable schemes in other British cities. Lenin talked of 'useful fools'. Let's hope Mancunians and their immediate neighbours do not become the latest incarnation of that aphorism.
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Reader Comments (7)
Great post Andrew , it just so happens that 4 of the major cancer treatment centres happen to be within the outer charge zone and 1 centre is in the inner charge zone . Given that a course of radiotherapy can be over 24 days , it will cost £ 120 + to receive treatment due to this congestion charge , at a time when finances are under great pressure for the patient . I am so proud to be English !!!!
A Mancunian was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live a couple of weeks ago. He lives a couple of hundred yards outside the zone, his business is a couple of hundred yards within it.
All of a sudden, the State will charge him well over a grand for the right to travel to work.
What a crappy, chiselling, backward country we're becoming.
Pete,
"All of a sudden, the State will charge him well over a grand for the right to travel to work."
Something left out...by car.
He can travel to work for much less than that using other means.
By the way if the roads were private, how much do you think it would cost him to travel on them? Assuming he was allowed to travel on them at all?
Frank O'Dwyer -
Yes, by car, his own private property, on the Queen's highway. Today he can drive free at the point of use. Soon, the State will charge him the do so.
He can travel to work for much less than that using other means.
So what if he can? How a free-born Briton chooses to travel in his own country is not the business of the State.
By the way if the roads were private, how much do you think it would cost him to travel on them?
Much less than they do so already if his taxes were reduced. You must be joking if you think the State can buld and maintain roads more efficiently than private provision can.
We may be "freeborn" but after 11 years of Labour misrule we are no longer free and it will get worse, much much worse.
Hi Andrew
Even though Ken the elected commie Knobhead tried to push it through, in November Boris announced that, based on the results of the public consultation, he would begin the legal process required to remove the Western Extension of the Congestion Charging zone in London. Rumours are that this will later include the central zone subject to a similar survey. He has at least scrapped the increase though.
He has also made good on his promise to reintroduce the Routemaster. A competition recently closed for professionals to design the new one. The comp stipulated that the designs have to include a degree of increased security by having a conductor on board, as well as the convenience of being able to hop on through the open back like we used to be able to.
We will get more livebus updates at stops which is great and the bendy hoover bus is finally being scrapped thank fck.
And he repealed that pathetic attempt by Ken to water down the black cab knowledge test to make it easier. God forbid we wind up with cabs like they have in New York, jesus they are truly awful. And the London cabbie was only being penalised by Ken because he was white and working class.
All in all and so far job well done. Maybe Manchester would benefit from a directly elected mayor?
Rejected. Well done people.
Reflecting the respect in which the people are held by the ruling establishment, they'll be back.