The BBC is reporting that tomorrow Gordon Brown will announce the sale of UK assets in order to raise £16bn to plug the Treasury black hole. This sale will crucially include the Dartford Crossing; if a private company or investor is going to be interested in buying the assets it will obviously want to make a profit.
So if the Dartford Crossing is sold, Kent’s commuters crossing the Bridge will continue paying the tolls that should have finished in 2002. Charges were introduced in 1963 to finance building the tunnels and latterly the bridge but were due to end once the debts had been paid off – this happened nearly 7 years ago and instead of the tolls ending, they went up! The proposed sale of the Crossing signals that the charges will now never end and the cash strapped motorist trying to get to work will be the ones that get penalised again.
4 comments:
Kinda puts the sale of the Medway tunnel into perspective. Will Jonathan Shaw oppose this? I don't think so. The fact is Labour have effectively announced a fire sale on some of our most key strategic assets during the worst economic downturn since the 1930s, so once again, Gordon Brown will be effectively selling our gold at rock bottom prices, and it is the public who will end up carrying the cost. Prudence my backside.
Isn't this akin to the situation for failed companies when the receivers come in and sell the assets to cover the debt…
So is this finally an admission by Labour that the country is bust!?
Er, didn't your lot invent this kind of sell-off? Are you saying that there are things that should not be run at a profit? I look forward to the nationalisaton of the railways and utilities when you storm to power next year!
And no doubt the Royal Mail will be safe in your hands?
Are you suggesting that the Conservative Party will, if able, remove the charge please?
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