BLACKLEY MP, Graham Stringer, has accused the government of "blackmailing" councils into introducing controversial pay as you drive schemes to ease congestion.

Along with other Labour and Tory MPs, Mr Stringer claims they are being offered more cash for public transport, including Metrolink routes, only if they bring in congestion charging.

"We have got £500M towards a £1.5bn tram scheme and the government have said that if we want the extra £1bn we will in practice have to have a congestion charge.

"I don’t think that’s fair when one looks at the investment that is being made in London," said Mr Stringer.

"The case for investing in the tram and train systems in Greater Manchester stands on its own and a separate case would have to be made for introducing a congestion charge."

Mr Stringer went on to question whether congestion was on the increase in Greater Manchester. He said that in 11 of the 14 centres of Greater Manchester congestion had fallen since 2001.

"I suspect that is mainly because of the opening of the M60. So congestion is not getting worse and the case for congestion charging in Greater Manchester has not been made - but we do need investment in public transport," added Mr Stringer.

But the government has rejected MPs claims they are "blackmailing" Greater Manchester councils.

Transport Minister Rosie Winterton hit back at the accusations and said: "We have no intention of forcing local authorities to take forward road pricing.

"But evidence suggests that road pricing can be a powerful tool in tackling congestion, particularly when backed up by the right improvements to public transport."

"We want local authorities to explore whether, combined with better public transport, it would be the right approach in their areas," added Ms Winterton.

But, in a Commons debate on local transport the Tory spokeswoman Theresa Villiers said: "The transport innovation fund should not be used to bully local communities into charging schemes. The decision on these schemes should be taken locally, not in Whitehall, and the transport innovation fund bids should be judged on the merits of the transport ideas they propose regardless of whether they include congestion charging or not."

During the debate the Liberal Democrat MP Mark Hunter (Cheadle) said that seven of the 10 boroughs in Greater Manchester were in favour of pay as you drive schemes but the other three were most definitely not.

"Do you intend that the Government will continue with their policy and effectively force the scheme on the rest of the conurbation of Greater Manchester whether it likes it or not?" Mr Hunter asked the minister.

Ms Winterton told him that Greater Manchester’s bid for cash from the Transport Innovation Fund has been submitted and negotiations were "still going on."