Azara Blog: Nick Clegg claims that he does not want Cambridge road pricing (unless pigs fly)

Date published: 2008/02/09

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has warned that Cambridge must not be used as "a guinea pig" to trial its nationwide plans for road pricing.
And he made clear any moves to bring in congestion charging to cut traffic and pollution in the historic city must be linked to immediate and major improvements to public transport.
...
Mr Clegg said: "In principle I'm in favour of road charging in all our great towns and cities like Cambridge, Manchester, Newcastle and Leeds.
"But it only works, and is politically acceptable, if the schemes that are piloted are done in a way that shows demonstrable benefit to the public, in terms of improved public transport alternatives.
...
Councillor Keith Walters, leader of the county council, has said no decisions on introducing it had been made yet.
"We are in the consultation phase and no decisions have been taken yet, and we will listen to reasoned arguments as to why we should or should not continue with certain options."

Shorter Nick Clegg: "The Lib Dems are against road pricing when we might lose votes because of it".

Shorter Keith Walters: "We are wrong but we won't admit it."

Walters' patronising reference to "reasoned arguments" is unbelievable. Indeed, the only people in Cambridge who have made "reasoned arguments" about the proposed road pricing scheme are those people who oppose it. The people who are for road pricing are the ones who have made no "reasoned arguments" because theirs is purely a political decision. There are two aspects to this political decision. One, some of these people, especially the transport planners (and the Lib Dems and the Greens and the Cambridge Cycling Campaign and the other members of the academic middle class), hate cars and drivers. Two, central government is bribing local government to introduce road pricing, and some people evidently think that this kind of gross corruption is perfectly acceptable (this is where the Tories come in, but the Cambridge Cycling Campaign also falls into this camp). It's as simple as that. Not exactly a "reasoned argument".

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