There have been persistent rumours the council wants to sell off Lothian Buses help fund the trams .

Here are three interesting articles:

Sell off denial

Lothian Buses profits up

Labour fund-raising

And for you conspiracy theorists out there -

TIE takes the chair at Lothian Buses

Most recently, here is the Evening New front page story that the funding will run out at Haymarket: York Place or bust!

I’m no financial expert, but my understanding is that Lothian Buses could sell for somewhere between £92and £138 million, on the basis of a price-earning ratio of between 10 and 15 given the profits announcement.

In recent year Edinburgh Council has tried to sell off the housing stock and also tried to introduce the congestion charging scheme.

If the Council sold Lothian Buses, more service cuts and higher fares would be sure to follow. And over half the residents in Liberton & Gilmerton don’t have cars and rely on Lothian Buses.

The council needs a clear warning to take the buses of the political agenda.

And my winning the by-election would be the best warning possible.

The next full Council elections are in 2012, and the thought that their policy position on Lothian Buses might mean they would lose their job to anti-trams campaigners would certainly make them sit up and take notice.

• http://Website Jack Anderson

  Since 2 September more has been reported of the buses being taken under the umbrella of TEL to help cross subsidise the Tram Project. This is real sleight of hand as the Tram Project will be a drain for longer than the four year period conjered up to justify the merger.
  The city needs to organise opposition to the plan to stop the project altogether.
  So far it seems that people behind the project are in self denial of its viability and local democracy which would overwhelmingly been ignore would draw a line under the whole Tram Project and not waste any more resources on it