UK Government Blackmails The People Of Manchester
The city of Manchester is faced with a no win situation. The City’s people have been told by Geoff Hoon, UK Transport Secretary, that if they vote no in a forthcoming referendum on introducing the congestion charge then the city will not be given the £1.5 billion transport funding grant. Mr Hoon stated, “If the vote is ‘no’, there will be no central government funding.”
Maybe the C above refers to you Mr Hoon?
The Association Of British Drivers (ABD) have come out fighting. Hugh Badon and ABD spokeman said,“The government is desperate to bring in road pricing and by tying the two together in Manchester they are trying to introduce it by the back door.”
The proposed congestion charge scheme in manchester will operate by electronically tagging every vehicle. The vehicle owners will pay into a pre-paid account. When their vehicles enter the congestion zone, payment will automatically be deducted from their accounts.
Are we becoming a nation under siege from surveillance devices. As if we do not have more than enough CCTV cameras, speed cameras and average speed cameras we will now find that our vehicles must have tracking equipment fitted. The proposed scheme in Manchester will operate by this equipment triggering road side beacons, the data is then transferred to a central unit where charging takes place.
Big Brother Is Watching
But there is another issue here and that is one of privacy, why should anyone have the right to monitor where we are going or where we have been? In effect we will be electronically tagged every time we sit behind the wheel. For this reason I believe that the people of Manchester should vote no in the referendum. The people in any UK city should not be blackmailed into accepting any additional taxes (yes the congestion charge is just another tax) nor should they accept further intrusion on their privacy.
Addendum. 12/12/08 THE PEOPLE OF MANCHESTER HAVE FINALLY AWAKENED AND SAID NO TO MORE TAXES. THE REST OF THE UK HAS TO DO THE SAME. Warrens comment says it all!
November 28th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I totally agree with you. Living in manchester and the ballot papers arrived on my doorstep yesterday (27/11/08) I sat there reading the load of garbage these idiots that run our country think of. Yes if I take the bus of course I won’t have to pay the charge, Yes I won’t have to pay the charge if I get the train into work. They say the congestion charge is only during the week but the idiots have put huge posters up saying and I quote “I won’t have to pay the charge to go watch football matches on a saturday afternoon” OF COURSE I WON’T BECAUSE IT IS ON A SATURDAY!!! There is another poster with an old age pensioner saying he won’t have to pay, come on you get a buss pass mate for free we pay for it for you of course you won’t have to pay WE WILL. I vote no
November 28th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
The power of mass media is there to influence those not in the know. They use the media to get taxation policies approved.
December 12th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Well today was the day when the vote was counted and to most of my friends and my delight it was a NO vote. And it was not even a close contest at 4 votes to 1. every borough in the manchester area that was able to vote voted with their feet and said no. Funny that is it not, we get asked if we want to pay a stealth tax in return for better public transport, and the answer was NO. Shall i tell you why.
We live in the united kingdom, the place where the red buses are famous worldwide, we pay road tax, fuel tax, income tax, vat, tax on everything in this country. In return the people who can’t drive or are on a low wage need to get to work, the taxes are supposed to pay for these things. If the government stopped allowing all these scroungers from coming into this country and taking all our taxes and if the government made the people who cant be bothered to go out and get a job like the rest of us then they could save some money and invest in public transport, schooling and the rest. NOW MAYBE THE GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE NOTE “WE THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN WILL NOT BE ROBBED OF OUR HARD EARNED MONEY” If only the londoners got the chance to vote, I am sure that would have been a no vote.
warren
December 12th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Well said Warren I agree with you 100%. Another stealth tax. hey it can only get worse, now the Americans are taxing their farmers for the amount of methane contained in cow farts!
June 1st, 2010 at 7:15 am
Every time I come to http://www.lease2u.co.uk you have another fascinating article to read. A friend of mine was telling me about this topic several weeks ago, so I think I’ll e-mail my friend the link here and see what they say.