Archive for September 29th, 2008

Conservatives Commit To Manchester Rail Link

Published on September 29, 2008 in Greater Manchester and National Comment. 11 Comments

I couldn’t blog today without briefly mentioning the new Conservative commitment to a high-speed rail link to Manchester and other northern cities:

Theresa Villiers has laid out plans to introduce the next phase of high speed rail to the UK, in what she described as a “momentous step forward for Britain’s transport infrastructure”.

A Conservative Government would build a new high speed rail line between Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London, which would cut journey times between Birmingham and London to 40 minutes and between Leeds and London to less than an hour and a half.

Theresa, the Shadow Transport Secretary, said that high speed rail would have many benefits for the UK:

  • Helping businesses and generating huge economic benefits, potentially to the value of £60 billion

  • Healing long-standing divisions in our economy by shrinking the distance between north and south

  • Relieving over-crowding on existing lines

  • Helping to protect future generations from climate change

She announced that a Conservative Government would say no to a third runway at Heathrow, and concentrate instead on the advantages of our high speed rail plan:

“It will leave a lasting legacy for the future - and it will lay the foundations for a high speed network that I believe will one day stretch across the country.”

We will target construction of the new high speed line to begin in 2015, with full completion by 2027.

This is a fantastic development and shows a long-term commitment to our transport infrastructure in the North-West which has been sadly lacking from the Labour Government.

I’m coming to the end of my alloted time on the webcafe so I’ll make a further comment later, but in the meantime David Ottewell has some comment.

Iain’s Conference Diary - Day 1

Published on September 29, 2008 in National Comment. 0 Comments

After a long queue I’ve finally managed to get hold of a computer at the Conference “Internet Cafe” (actually five terminals on a stand - not really enough to meet demand!) so I thought I’d make a quick update to this blog before George Osborne comes on to speak. Mark Bowen is sat three computers down doing the same thing, by the looks of it!

The highlights of yesterday were strong speeches by David Cameron and William Hague, who both set the scene for the Conference ahead. Following that, George Osborne introduced a number of ordinary members of the public onto the stage to discuss issues with shadow cabinet members. The “chat show” format could easily have flopped but it actually worked really well. I was particularly interested in the sub-postmaster from Bristol who talked about the Post Office Card Account - our shadow trade secretary Alan Duncan MP outlined Conservative plans to allow the POCA accounts to be used to pay utility bills. This will increase business for Post Offices and allow thousands of families to save money on their bills at a time when prices are rising considerably.

Fringe watch - last night I popped in to the Gibraltar reception briefly before heading on to the North West gathering. It was great to see so many familiar faces and in such good spirits. I’m off to the GMPTE fringe this lunchtime.