Manchester must be able to keep the TIF money - Leech

3.47.48pm GMT Fri 12th Dec 2008

In the wake of the overwhelming 'no' vote in today's congestion charge referendum, Withington MP John Leech has called on the government to ensure that Manchester is not stripped of the money that had been earmarked for the city if the vote had been successful.

The government's congestion charging proposals were overwhelmingly rejected by voters in Greater Manchester's referendum

Until now, the Prime Minister has refused to be drawn on what would happen to the money in the event of a no vote, even when challenged directly by Mr Leech in the House of Commons, but Mr Leech is now demanding that Manchester should not be punished for rejecting the government's scheme.

Mr Leech said:

'The people of Greater Manchester have spoken and have emphatically rejected the government's prescriptive proposals. But that doesn't mean that they should now be punished by having the money taken away from Manchester.'

'Gordon Brown must ring fence the money for Manchester and we must be given the chance to come up with new and improved proposals that are acceptable to the people of Greater Manchester. This is not a rejection of the principle of congestion charging, but rather a rejection of this specific, inadequate scheme. If the government's half of the money was there on the table this morning, it has to be there tonight too.'

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Notes to editors:

1. The congestion charge count took place today (Friday, 12th December 2008) with a majority of voters all 10 of Greater Manchester's boroughs voting against the plans, with 812,815 (79%) no votes and 218,860 (21%) in favour of the charge.

For more information, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7778110.stm

2. John Leech is the Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesman and a member of the Transport Select Committee.

3. On 5th November 2008, John Leech asked the following question at Prime Minister's Questions:

Mr. Leech: Will the Prime Minister ensure that in the event of a "No" vote the people of Greater Manchester will have the opportunity to come back with an improved scheme without the concern that the Government might take the money away?

The Prime Minister: I know that the voting paper has options for a "Yes" vote and a "No" vote, but I am afraid that there is no option for a "Don't know" vote. In the event of a "No" vote, it would be up to Greater Manchester authorities to decide whether they wanted to do further work on the proposals. The Government are in principle prepared to contribute, as he has said, up to £1.5 billion towards the Greater Manchester package, but that is dependent on the broad scope and nature of the package remaining the same. If Greater Manchester came back with a revised proposition, we would need to assess it on its merits.