David Ottewell's Politics

…and the outer ring is here…

Click here for the final proposals for the inner charging ring.

“I neither asked for money nor received any and I didn’t break any rules but I think I did make a mistake” – George Osborne, speaking moment ago…

You may have noticed that one of the changes to the TIF bid announced today included a lowering of the daily maximum charge from £10 to £5.
I trailed this here but made less of it than some other media because (a) one a tiny proportion of people would ever pay the maximum fare (a handful of delivery drivers, essentially); and (b) the cap on bus fares is clearly more important to more people.
And then there is (c) – the fact I told you back in July that the maximum charge would be reduced. I wouldn’t want to minimise the importance of the various changes announced today; but don’t be surprised these rabbits have been pulled out of the hat just weeks before the referendum.

Apparently the Manchester city council switchboard is not working:

In my experience, anyone calling the council tax “hotline” won’t notice the difference…

If I were an opponent of the TIF/congestion charge bid, I’d be doing cartwheels today.
Why? Because among a series of other documents released today, Ipsos MORI slipped out their interim report on the consultation process.
They’ve broken down the 81,000-odd bits of feedback from the general public into “positive” and “negative” – and the result suggests a “no” vote in every Greater Manchester borough.

I’ve got hold of (and reprinted below) the proposed text of the leaflet that will go out with the ballot papers in the TIF/congestion charge referendum. The leaflet could be vital – particularly for those people who haven’t really been following the debate.