Let the People Decide on Congestion Charge

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 9th Jun 2008

Manchester Liberal Democrats have called for a Greater Manchester-wide referendum to take place before a congestion charge is introduced. Today's announcement by Government could bring badly-needed public transport improvements as well as a peak-time congestion charge.

Local Lib Dem Leader Councillor Simon Ashley said:

"The Lib Dems in Manchester have supported submitting this bid to government, and want to study the details of the announcement today. However, we do not believe that the consultations over the summer on the details of these plans will be adequate."

Cllr Ashley added:

"The Liberal Democrats in Manchester say ' Let the people decide' . Only then will Manchester Lib Dems support a congestion charge."

Ends

Note to Editors:

Throughout the "TiF" bid process, Manchester Liberal Democrats have consistently argued in favour of a Greater Manchester-wide referendum on the issue.

A referendum question might be as follows (Question Six on the opinion polling being used in July 2007 by the authorities):

"Would you agree or disagree with the principle of a combined package of £3 billion improvements in transport in Greater Manchester that also included greater local control over buses and rail and the introduction of congestion charging for vehicles using the busiest roads at peak times on weekdays?"