AN MP who led the campaign against a Greater Manchester congestion charge has claimed he was snubbed by the man who drew up the referendum question.
Graham Stringer, MP for Manchester Blackley, told the House of Commons that Sir Neil McIntosh - the returning officer for November's region-wide vote - had been 'biased' and consulted only those who supported the bid before choosing a form of words.
Mr Stringer described the situation as 'scandalous' and said the rules should be changed for future referendums.
Last year's vote was on the issue of whether Greater Manchester residents wanted to accept a peak-hour congestion charge in return for just under £3bn from the government's Transport Innovation Fund.
'No' campaigners said the question set by Sir Neil should have mentioned congestion charging. It simply stated: "Do you agree with the Transport Innovation Fund proposals?"
Investment
Sir Neil said at the time that the question was printed below a 'preamble' which mentioned both the charge and the investment. Just over a million votes were cast in the December poll and of those 812,815 - a massive 78.8 per cent - put their cross in the 'No' box.
Mr Stringer said a lack of legislation meant Sir Neil had too much leeway in setting the question.
The MP, speaking in a Parliamentary debate, said: "Sir Neil McIntosh, who was paid £30,000 to do the job, could decide to consult only the promoters of the relevant Bill on what question to put, and did not put into the main question on the referendum paper the most controversial aspect of the proposal - the levying of a congestion charge or a new tax on people.
"Also, he would not see people such as myself who were opposed to the proposals. I think that that is quite scandalous."
And he told the M.E.N: "There needs to be more guidance. Fortunately the wording of the question helped the 'No' campaign because people do not like to manipulated and told what to do."
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Graham Stringer seems to be one of the very few who hasn't had his hands in the till with these exenses. He should go further in Goverment but won't because he speaks his mind and doesn't bow to Brown and Co. like a complete sycophant.
Mr Stringer if the people of Manchester had have been listened to,in the first place,the referendum would not have taken place from the outset.At least you know now what it feels like to be ignored,like the rest of us over the past decade.Diluted totalitarianism can be "quite scandalous",cant it...
graham! dont worry! even though they tried every dirty trick in the book they still didnt win!
biased adverts on TV that where deemed untouchable by the ASA as they where part of the voting process.
the yes group with with only half a story to most of their claims.
a council leader who staked his job on the yes vote getting through!
and all the other councils and their leaders who backed the scheme when they knew the majority where against it! but they just carried on wasting our money!
i do hope in local and national elections we show them what we though of what they'd done (well before the current scandal thats going on)
Typical of our political system corrupt and out of touch.
Right from the start of the campaign the Government used every tool they had to sway the vote including the use of actors purporting to be Manchester citizens and absolutely scandalous poll results trying to convince us the majority were in favour. These people should fundamentally review why they are in politics i.e. is it for their self interest or is it to represent the will of the electorate.
SAY NO TO ID cards, this is another manipulation try on, now Jaqui Smith has gone so to the freedom reducing scheme should, and all the lobby cash spent on our Ministers and MPs by the American IT and Surveillance companies should be written off by them. Our Government should not be bought with an anti British situation to produce a Stasi reporting system to protect who knows what from someone who knows who.Remember "information is power" and "power is corrupting" and those with access will use it to "stay in power".
Graham Stringer for Prime minister!!!!
By the time we've finished with the Mp's scandal, Graham Stringer will probably be manning the Labour ship on his own, well until the next election anyway.
We all know that the yes campaign was biased, just look at the amount of taxpayers money was used to promote both sides of the argument, Yes campaign ££££££. No campaign £0
Graham Stringer for Prime Minister.
This is the man who says there's no such thing as Dyslexia, and that's it's all a fabrication used to cover up poor teaching standards and justify poor educational attainment.
Nothing to do with the failings of the feckless, infantile, aggressive, bitter, whining white trash scum parents he presides over in his constituency.
He also wanted to go back to those 'halcyon days' of when buses were publically owned and run. It wasn't 'so much better' then. Buses were less reliable, less frequent, dirtier and a less attractive and viable option all round when the buses were run 'by t'corporation'.
The man's a fool, an aggressive, arrogant, beligerent fool, and a dinosaur
Knowledge Poverty, a dark future - at least he doesnt mince his words! he tells it like it is! he doesnt dodge the subjects like our current bunch of idiots in power!
i partly agree with his comment on dyslexia too. some do suffer from it but it is used far too much as an excuse for lazy kids who just dont want to learn! as they used to be classed as the thickies of the class. now they brand them all dyslexic.
What a terrible MP Mr Stringer is - campaigning for what his constituents wanted when he should have been busy switching housings and buying duck houses!
People should remember that many if not most MPs are like him - it's just that the headline 'MP does his job' isn't half as interesting as 'Home Secretary buys porn'
Knowledge Poverty - I take exception to everyone in the Blackley constituency as being "feckless, lazy, whining white trash scum parents" as you so eloquently put it. Graham Stringer is my MP, I work full time and my son is about to study physics at university.
The people you mention are everywhere and although I don't agree with everything Stringer says, he tells it like it is, isn't a fawning Brownite and is at least one of the few MP's not in for themselves, unlike a lot we have heard of over the past few weeks.