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Rats and sinking ships
Written by Mev Brown
Sunday, 17 April 2011 16:16
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I was never a fan of the trams.

As long ago as 2005, I was calling for the tram project to be scrapped.

But these days, Edinburgh’s embattled Trams are losing their friends – and fast…

First is was the Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott, who said he does not intend to spend “one more penny” on the troubled tram project in Edinburgh.

As transport minister in the previous Labour-Lib Dem administration, Mr Scott steered the Edinburgh Trams Act through parliament but the project has since ground to a halt amid contractual difficulties.

Good job - READ FULL STORY

Then came the bad news from the Tories, with their manifesto commitment:  ”ruling out any further government funding for the project”. READ FULL STORY

Off course, they voted for it in the Scottish Parliament. But things were different then.

There wasn’t an election looming…

 
They should have stood for election
Written by Mev Brown
Wednesday, 06 April 2011 14:24
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It is official – I really have seen it all now.

CRAG (Capital Rail Action Group. Click here for their website) has called for the tram project to be completed at any cost as it is: “the will of the Scottish parliament”.

Really – well maybe they haven’t been keeping up to date with current events, but times are hard. There is, Labour tells us, no money left.

CRAG has just published their election manifesto and asked candidates to support it.

Well, this is one candidate who will decline.

I only wish CRAG had put it’s money where it’s mouth is and put up a candidate for the elections!

Their reasoning is that loads of other projects have gone horribly over budget – so why not the trams?

What kind of reasoning is this? Consider the scenario where you ordered something and you kept getting phone calls from the salesman to the effect:  ”Very sorry, but the price has gone up again, please send your cheque to…”

There will come a time when you simply say: “No”.

Again, as Liam Byrne, Labour’s former Chief Secretary to the Treasury said: “There’s no money left”.

Perhaps if they had stated where the money should come from, which council services should get axed, whose jobs should go, then they could defend their position. But they haven’t.

For their press release/election manifesto, click here

 
Time’s up
Written by Mev Brown
Friday, 25 February 2011 18:53
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It was never meant to be like this.

Today was the day the first trams were meant to be rolling down Princes Street.

Instead, just 38% of the construction budget is left with 72% of the work still to be done. I’m not a mathematical whiz kid, but if these figures are indicative, then the trams will be 89% over budget when [if] the project is finally completed.

And that is a big “if”. For the simple reason that the trams project was launched by the then Labour Transport Minister Iain Gray [and now the Labour leader in the Scottish parliament] in the good times, when the Scottish parliament was awash with money and didn’t know what to spend it all on.

As working people the length and breadth of the country are all now painfully aware, those days are long gone.

For the full story, click here – time’s up