THE government has been accused of pro-London bias after agreeing to hand over billions for transport projects in the capital.
Greater Manchester MPs are set for an angry showdown with transport secretary Ruth Kelly today after Gordon Brown agreed to provide £5.2bn towards the cost of a cross-London rail service.
Ms Kelly, MP for Bolton West, will be grilled by the Commons select committee on transport, which includes Manchester Blackley MP Graham Stringer and Manchester Withington MP John Leech.
Her appearance follows a number of controversial decisions in which London-based projects have been given the go-ahead - while the north has been left waiting for money.
The prime minister announced earlier this month that the Treasury would contribute one third of the £16bn cost of the London Crossrail project.
The announcement came just a day after the Department for Transport promised a feasibility study into a major increase of capacity at Manchester's Piccadilly station. Network Rail has been asked to pursue the matter as a priority - but there has been no promise of extra cash.
No justification
Transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick has also poured cold water on a £30bn high-speed rail link from London to Manchester, telling the Commons there was `presently no justification... for such expenditure'.
Meanwhile, the government has also given the green light to a £3.5bn upgrade of London's Thameslink train network.
Greater Manchester council is bidding for £3bn from the Transport Innovation Fund to complete the `Big Bang' Metrolink extension and pay for extra rail and bus services and more Metrolink improvements.
The bid includes a pledge to introduce a peak-hour congestion charge of up to £5 a day.
The government had agreed to a funding package of £520m for the original smaller Metrolink plan but withdrew the offer after costs spiralled.
The money was put back on the table only after a massive campaign, led by the M.E.N.
The cost of just the original plan is now estimated at more than £1bn - and the government says the Transport Innovation Fund is now the only viable source of funding.
Mr Stringer said last night: "When you put the £16bn for Crossrail, £3.5bn for Thameslink and the £6bn benefits of the Olympics to London against the comparatively trivial amount for Metrolink, you see that the government has got its regional policy wrong."
Mr Leech said: "There is a big London bias as far as I am concerned.
"You only have to look at the figures to prove it. Manchester and the rest of the country are getting nothing."
A DfT spokeswoman said: “Transport funding for the north west has more than doubled since the start ofthis decade.
“DfT has provided substantial funding forpublic transport improvements recently – including £8.6bn for modernising the West Coast Mainline and conditional approval for a£520m extension of the Metrolink.”
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Chris, Irlam (24/10/2007 at 11:23)
Tell us something we don't already know!
I am ashamed that people round here mindlessly vote for this incompetent set of buffoons time & time again without question - ask yourself what are we getting from them in return?
On the evidence in front of us here I'd say nothing except a very raw deal!
Why are we being lumbered with a Toll Tax plus a massive loan for OUR transport improvements?
Perhaps local MP's and councillors should take a leaf from Graham Stringer's book and start asking a few questions instead of toeing the government line - but that would be too much to ask from lazy councillors with 'guaranteed' seats wouldn't it?
Iain Lindley, Walkden (24/10/2007 at 11:35)
I think it is rather misleading to write this without acknowledging that the vast bulk of the £3bn is in fact a huge loan that will hang over the heads of taxpayers in Greater Manchester for decades to come...
Black Flag (24/10/2007 at 11:41)
The problem is that it doesn't matter who is in power, the bias towards London is always there; Thatcher deregulated buses everywhere except London, because she didn't want London to suffer the problems that she was happy to inflict on everybody else.
The simple solution is to introduce a national land value tax, so that in those areas where house prices increase as a result of government investment, the landholders pay more tax. It won't happen, because it wouldn't benefit London.
Mark Coleman (24/10/2007 at 12:04)
Manchester by Day (24/10/2007 at 12:12)
I can understand why capital is needed for London - I worked there for 7 years. But - other regions need vast imporvements, too.
Mark Coleman (24/10/2007 at 12:31)
London has just been voted best public transport infrastructure in the world, it simply doesn't deserve this level of investment especially when the rest of the country is so deprived of decent public transport. Unfortunateely there are only a few places in this country that have any expectations of anything better, places like Manchester. Even moe unfortunatley Manchester will miss out again at London's expense.
Simon B, www.manchestertolltax.com (24/10/2007 at 12:36)
Simon B, www.manchestertolltax.com (24/10/2007 at 12:44)
3bn for Manchester, 2bn a loan with a payback of 125m per year over 30 years.
The London C-Charge has only made 35m proifit in the total for first 4 years it been running.
They say 5 a day in Manchester at rush hours only will cover that loan repayment, not a chance in hell.
Dave Sherwood, Hollins Green (24/10/2007 at 12:51)
Dave David (24/10/2007 at 12:51)
Snare Drum, Ashton-under-Lyne (24/10/2007 at 13:34)
paul teeque (24/10/2007 at 13:34)
Timberman, MANCHESTER (24/10/2007 at 13:41)
I sent an e-mail to Tony Lloyd the other day, I'm still waiting for a reply.
London will always get the lions share, and while we have useless councilors they always will.
Surely the north west is generating enough income without having to borrow off central government for every paper clip and pencil.
Leese, Jones and co listen to the people that matter, us
Good luck to Graham Stringer and John Leech, you'll need it. TTFN
Caped Crusader, Gotham City (24/10/2007 at 13:47)
Mark, South Manchester (24/10/2007 at 13:51)
New Labour has given Manchester nothing - and even taken away our supercasino. Just when are our politicians going to realise that Brown, Blair and New Labour - only have a passion for London and the Celtic fringes??
ebble (24/10/2007 at 14:22)
cashonly, Nimes (24/10/2007 at 14:26)
Emjay See (24/10/2007 at 14:55)
Black Sabbath (24/10/2007 at 15:03)
Dom, Manchester (24/10/2007 at 15:10)
Octavius Tinsworth Ace (24/10/2007 at 15:22)
Those who honestly think Manchester did better under the Tories should remember that the last Conservative government did little more than pay lip service, or at most a token amount, towards our own Olympic bid, the Metrolink and even damage reparations after the 1996 bomb (the government contributed something like £80m, I believe, i.e. peanuts).
It seems to me that every major project funded by the government in London is seen as being "for the good of the country" while any funding of a project outside the capital is viewed as "begging" by the region or city in question. Manchester's best hope is indeed a regional assembly but unfortunately no-one with any influence seems to want to educate the population on the benefits of such a move.
Mandy Davies (24/10/2007 at 15:24)
Emjay See (24/10/2007 at 15:54)
first a fully integrated public transport infrastructure, then the C charge. Not the other way round. Remember Londoners always could use the tube, what options do I have at present? Entice me to use public transport, then charge me for using my car if I don't take up the option. Don't just charge the motorist and give them no viable alternative.
Simon B, www.manchestertolltax.com (24/10/2007 at 15:57)
Take a look
www.manchestertolltax.com
With less cars since 2000 their should be less congestion.
wrong, congestion is now being delibratly engineered to create a case for the C-Charge.
The figures are not MART's by the way.
they are from the Manchester Traffic Unit, and Manchester City councils own State of the city report.
Which by the way says their has been no noticable increase in congestion in the last year.
Chris, Irlam (24/10/2007 at 16:07)
www.manchestertolltax.com/
www.notolls.org.uk/roadpricing.htm
A wealth of alternative suggestions - all of which don't involve lumbering the region with 30 years of debt.