Recent Articles

Posts Tagged ‘trams’
We must send the council a message
Written by Mev Brown
Wednesday, 04 May 2011 16:11
No Comments

They don’t get it. After all this time, they still don’t get it.

In a pitiful attempt to keep the Edinburgh Trams project afloat, Edinburgh Council is considering a raid on its emergency fund. READ THE FULL STORY

The obvious question has to be posed – what if there is a real emergency? If this is stopped, they may borrow the money, or worse, the council may look again at the possibility of the selling Lothian buses to fill financial gap.

This news comes the day after Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce demanded that the FULL trams project be completed – that’s fine with me if they’ll pay for it. READ THE FULL STORY

We must send Edinburgh Council a clear message – they had their chance, they blew it.

People are worried about jobs & services: “Trams are not a funding priority”

 

 
Rats and sinking ships
Written by Mev Brown
Sunday, 17 April 2011 16:16
No Comments

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
1 Comment

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