All roads lead to the taxpayer's pockets

David Cameron has today been giving us the benefit of his views on how he believes it possible to  extract yet more money from the motoring taxpayer to fund his - and his master's - vision of the future. As Richard North, EU Referendum, points out the motorist is already paying £42billion pa and only £9billion is returned - and Cameron expects the motorist to pay yet more?


Cameron suggests that improvements to the A14 could be part funded by the imposition of tolls. Let us digress slightly and consider why improvements to the A14 are being made. Back in 2004, 30 priority axes were adopted (Decision No 884/2004/EC) amongst which was the aim to improve transport links between Ireland, via the United Kingdom, to mainland Europe. Part of these 30 priority projects is the A14 from Felixstowe to Nuneaton, then connecting with existing motorways to terminate at Holyhead and Larne (Project 13). If tolls were to be introduced on the A14 then of course we will be paying three times with the road fund licence, toll charges and by means of our contribution to the €11,670,000 grant that has been made.


Of course tolls are nothing new as for some years an electronic road toll system for the EU has been the subject of both a directive and a decision and only last year Siim Kallas produced a guide for the application of the directive on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems. From the Foreward it is worth noting that besides being used to finance motorway and road construction it can also be effective for reaching broader transport policy objectives such as modification of users’ habits.


In common with most of what Cameron says, in that he never tells us the whole truth, there is no mention that the tolling system will need to comply with EU standards (nor what the cost of that might be), neither is there any mention that the improvements to the A14 are only being made as a result of the requirement to finalise an EU 'transport corridor'.


He is obviously able to let his own cat out of No10, but under strict instructions not to let the EU cat out of the bag.

Know thy master........

Patrick Hennessy, another icon of 'journalism', writing in the Daily Telegraph reports on a 'last-ditch' attempt to de-rail HS2.

For someone who purports to be a 'Political Editor', should he not know that a 'comprehensive' strategy for transport, one including road, rail and air is, in fact, out of our hands? Just how many times do I have to point this out? Or this? And just what the hell does someone who qualified as an accountant, but who is obviously at a loss when being questioned on economics, know about chuff-chuffs?

And we plebs have to rely on Hennessy for news, someone who has 5,898 followers on Twitter, someone who obviously knows 'squat-diddly' about that which he 'writes'? Hell, he can't even confirm whether Greening, as Transport Secretary, will have cleared any agreement she may make with Siim Kallas*!

'Sheesh'! We are indeed being fed a load of 'Kebab'!

* And who is Siim Kallas? Just another 'political ladder climber', like Greening!

More EU 'Transport' News

From Europa and one of their newsletters we learn that there is to be a Joint EESC-EC Conference on the White Paper on Transport - The Viewpoint of the European Civil Society, to be held on 5th December this year. Do note the use of the word 'civil' and be not fooled it is meant in the context of 'civilian' - it is not, for 'civil' read stakeholders, quangocrats, bureaucrats etc.

It is also possible to read a speech given by Siim Kallas, Vice President and Commissioner for Transport at the recent gathering of the European Council for Automotive Research and Development (EUCAR) held on 8th November 2011 during which he imagines:

".......European cities served by fleets of ultra-clean, smokeless and silent vehicles, buses and other public vehicles, perhaps powered by electricity."

which was included in the next steps being planned by the Commission.

It is perhaps pertinent, at this point, to remind readers of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) Article 4 (2): Shared competence between the Union and Member States applies in the following principal areas: .......(g) transport;..........

And still the Lib/Lab/Con maintain the facade that we are a self-governing nation and that Parliament is sovereign.......................

People, you live under a dictatorship - wake up!