Manchester Lib Dems Election De-Brief 2011

On Saturday 4th March senior Liberal Democrats in Manchester met to discuss the implications of the local election results for the party in the City of Manchester.

The gathering of party activists, including councillors and former councillors considered some detailed analysis of voting patterns, canvassing data and turnout across the City as a first step to working out exactly what the message from the City’s electors was on polling day.

Marc Ramsbottom, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Manchester, told members that “People in this city have given us a clear message. We need to continue to fight against Labour waste in the Town Hall, but we also need to stand up for this City and tell this Government when it has got things wrong.”

“It is clear that Labour have heard the wrong message from the people of Manchester. They have heard that they now have councillors in every ward in this City and believe that that gives them carte blanche to do whatever they please. As the only opposition to Labour in this City is it our duty to challenge that Labour arrogance, and to ensure that we represent the people of Manchester to the best of our ability.”

Figures obtained by John Leech MP show that England’s overstretched rail network has done well out of the spending review.

The figures on the detailed impact of the spending review compared to the last years of the Labour Government show that by 2013 we will spend more in real terms on improving rail services compared to the last year under Labour.

With the Lib Dems in Government, the capital budget for national road and rail projects will be 8% higher in real terms from 2011-2014 compared to 2008-2011.

But rail is the real winner, with a much bigger slice of the funding pie going to making train journeys better rather than doing work to motorways and trunk roads. Four times as much will be spent on rail compared to road from 2011-2014.

Under Labour, the proportion of capital funding for national transport projects going to rail had shrunk by 7% in its last three years in power. Motorway and trunk road projects took up a third of the budget.

Given the ageing train network and the need to give people good alternatives to the car, John Leech MP welcomed the funding shift as “finally a move in the right direction”. He commented: “I’m pleased that despite the economic mess we’re in, the spending tap isn’t being turned off for public transport. These figures show a positive picture, not the doom and gloom some painted.”

He added: “The Labour Government said all the right things about the need to improve public transport, but its actions didn’t follow its words.”

“By the time they left office, they were spending less and less on track and signals, and more and more on blacktop. We need a green economic recovery.”

With the Lib Dems in Government, the old diesel trains between Manchester and Liverpool and out to Bolton and Preston will finally be history. With track and signal improvements, we are going to get the faster journeys we’ve long been waiting for.