HERE we go again.
Independent “think tank” ResPublica believes the HS2 link for Liverpool is essential if chancellor George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse plan is to succeed and Liverpool is not to be left behind.
The vast majority of Mersey Tunnel users are from Wirral - and now we’re being asked to pay for the already hazy Powerhouse concept.
May we inquire how many people from London or Birmingham are to have their pockets picked for their high speed rail links?
And where on earth has a “surplus” of Mersey Tunnel cash suddenly sprung from?
The think tank’s report says the tunnels “make a surplus revenue of between £12m and £14m a year.”
Yet we’re told the hated tolls can’t be scrapped because they’re being used to pay-off the apparently never-ending debt dating back to the tunnels’ construction.
Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson nevertheless thinks it’s a splendid idea.
“Using this mechanism would allow both ourselves and the wider economy to move closer to prosperity,” he said.
Back in November of 2005 Liverpool city council's leader at the time Mike Storey had a similar wheeze of using OUR tolls to pay for HIS trams.
The Globe ran a petition that attracted more than 11,000 signatures against the crazy idea.
Our front page that week carried the slogan: ON YER BIKE, MIKE.
We've got one for Mayor Anderson too: OFF YOU GO, JOE.
If Liverpool city council wants and needs faster trains, then fine.
But Liverpool city council can pay for it.
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