Cairns Severn Bridge PR Catastrophe

 

• 

  
  

   

  Genesis of the Cairns Tax

   

  Will the saga of the Severn Bridges toll ever be put on the stage?

  It happened with a PACAC select committee meeting and it was a fine

  entertaining musical.

  The Severn Tolls farce might be judged too far-fetched to be plausible.

  This year we have witnessed a series of nonsensical statements by the Tory

  snake-oil hucksters that were designed to deceived. They all produced hoops of

  grateful joy from a media with the concentration span of an earthworm. The

  charlatan politicians plan to rob us again next January but demand our

  gratitude for their fake news. The 'cut' is a con.

  PIC: SOUTH WALES ARGUS. Left to Right, TORY MP David Davies , TORY Welsh

  Secretary Alun Cairns, TORY Minister Chris Graying united in mission to sell

  Tolls snake-oil.

   

  £3.70

  On the 12th

  December 2016 the hapless Alun Cairns hilariously

  set his position to the Welsh Select Committee:

   

   
• Q90 Chair: This cut that has been promised at 50%—50% on the tolls as they are in

  2018 but still 50%—is absolutely guaranteed, isn’t it?

  Alun Cairns: That is the Government proposal but there is a consultation going on

  to how that can be achieved.

  Q91 Chair: So it is not quite guaranteed?

  Alun Cairns: The announcement has been made in Budget 2015, I think it was, or

  2014, and it is something that is Government policy.

  Q93 Paul Flynn: Severn Bridge tolls started four years before you were born,

  Secretary of State. Do you expect them to continue when you reach retirement

  age?

  Alun Cairns: Clearly I would hope, Mr Flynn, that you would accept that the 50%

  reduction that is proposed, subject to a consultation and so on, is a welcome step.

  Q94 Paul Flynn: There was a fascinating poll finding that said that 50% of the

  population didn’t understand what 50% means. You have been quoted as saying

  that the toll should be £3.70. How is that 50% of £6.70?

  Alun Cairns: I was talking about of that order and I talked about it by the time the

  bridge comes into public ownership for which there will be an inflationary fee.

  Q95 Paul Flynn: In my view, the people of Wales are being ripped off by having one

  of the few stretches of motorway, which the Severn Bridges are, tolled and this

  has gone on for all these years now and because of the deals done a long time ago

  by a previous generation. There seems to be absolutely no reason why this

  shouldn’t become a national responsibility and the psychological barrier to south

  Wales, which is very damaging, could be removed.

  Alun Cairns: I am governed by the Act of Parliament and the Act of Parliament will

  have struck a deal with the Severn Bridge company. We have an obligation in order

  to deliver that but I would hope that reducing the tolls by half is seen as a very

  positive step, although there will be a debt that remains outstanding. It

  demonstrates the scale of the project.

  Q96 Paul Flynn: You stand by the figure of £3.70?

  Alun Cairns: I would say wait until the consultation goes out.

   

  £3.00

  January 17th

  2017

  That posture did not last long. After checking their maths, they reduced the

  planned toll to less than 50%

  The Trinity of Snake Oil Salesmen consisted of Chris Grayling, David Davies and

  Alan Cairns posed at the Severn Bridge and announced the 'Good News' that Severn

  Bridges toll would be set at the bargain rate of £3.00! Hurrah! But that was for the

  long term future.
• But it was no bargain because next year the tolls should be nil. It was an attempt

  to con us. The snap General Election forced a re-think on the Tory Trinity. Today

  they will announced that they have seen the Labour Light and will resist

  temptation to continue milking the cash cow of tolls double taxation. It will be

  announced with a blast of Tory self-satisfaction in Newport today. (no. I have not

  been invited.)

  Will anyone ask if election opportunism played a part in their volte-face?

  Tory Toll junkies are hooked on the Highway Robbery that forces local people

  into paying double taxation. While the Severn Bridges were in private hands

  the deal to pay tolls was resented but tolerated. In early 2018, the bridges will

  become public property like the rest of the motorway system. They should be

  maintained and financed in the same way as all other public roads.

  For 52 years, we have paid twice. First through our taxes for the roads system.

  Secondly through the toll payments. The Government want to continue to milk the

  cash cow of tolls. There is an overwhelming case for abolishing the tolls

  altogether. At a stroke an injustice would end and the expense and psychological

  barrier to accessing Wales would be gone.

  £billions of our taxes are paid to build, run and maintains the UK's road system.

  The Severn Bridges costs and debts are national responsibilities when they become

  public property. Wales has a history of attacking unjust tolls by the Hosts of

  Rebecca. It's time the spirit of the 1839 was aroused again.

   

  16th

  May 2017

  £00.00

   

  The Tories 2017 election bribe was an unconditional promise to end the tolls.

  As a bribe it failed. Their ambition was to gain 7 Labour seats. They lost three

  of their own to Labour and every sitting Labour MP increased their majorities.

  They cannot mange a simple election bribe efficiently.

  The Severn Bridges Act 1992 set out framework to award private contract to

  build a much needed second Severn crossing. Severn River Crossings built the

  bridge with the power to charge tolls until revenue of £1.029 billion is raised or

  for a maximum of 35 years. Wales has paid extortionate annually increasing

  tolls since.

  The debt is almost paid, the concession contract is coming to An end. In the next

  year the crossings will return to public ownership. Legal power to levy charges

  ends with the contact.

  The Act is clear and tolls must cease. The Crossings have an estimated annual

  running cost of £15m. As with any other road belonging to the Department for

  Transport maintenance costs are unavoidable. Road users already cover these

  maintenance costs with road tax. Further tolls amount to unreasonable and

  duplicate charges
•  

  12th

  September 2017

  £5.60

  The Cairns Huckster team are back. Tolls are to be ‘CUT’ to £2.60 MORE than

  Cairns promised on January 17

  th

  . Not to reduce it to that level would be illegal.

  The reduction is because the bridges after next January will not be liable to

  VAT. There is no choice. But Alun Cairns still has no date for delivering on his

  election bribe of £00.00 tolls.

   

  No charge is necessary after January 2018. We have discharged our debt.

  It is no longer a toll, it’s a CAIRNS TAX.
• 

  Mr Cairns said he was not surprised at the reaction but claimed the "wider, silent

  majority is absolutely with us". He urged "republicans" to "respect" the Prince

  because of his work in the community.

   

  The decision to re-name the Bridge after Prince Charles is a PR disaster. A petition of 20,000 appeared overnight. A poll in the Argus showed that only a tiny 11% supported Cairns. 89% wanted no change, another name or could not care. Who is advising you on PR Alun? ....a Republican?

 

Comments

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The status quo is rock steady, in some ways. In other words It will take a fierce force to upset it. Real effective change has to be wide-reaching, and comprehensive, To rebuild a lot of things. Shit circumstances caused by enemies within, plus those from abroad looking to take advantage, and then the wide array of cutthroats who you always get piling in opportunistically; well, we can see that 'through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom' etc.

The longer we leave it the worse it gets for us. There isn't necessarily a hero who will emerge and win the day. Nor do we necessarily deserve one, if that is at all relevant. Ultimately we have to look at ourselves, the people. What do we choose? This is not intended to be a haughty lecture, rather that I feel I have argued that superstition and self-worship has the ability to create the society (locally and further afield) that we should inevitably expect.

I DO believe there is such a thing as sin and sinners and that those sinners that become addicted to it. Now, I will back up a little and keep it as corporeal as I can, which I should. People often get what they deserve. Other times they don't. Now, continual stupidity, in the context I frame it in this meagre post, is a powerful force. To gain a habit, a propensity, is a powerful force. One that also leads to personal short-term enrichment; (of a clan, a class even) is even more dangerous. So what can we do?

Commit to a path of bettering the collective. Its not self-sacrifice, its survival, even selfishness. That needs qualifying. If people get it right, the world will get right, and people now and in the future will benefit. Yes, there is a buttress of reactionary interest, and a swathe of self-worshiping charlatans, but we outnumber them 10-1.

We can have peace in longevity if people decide it, take the basics on, use their numbers. Again it is not even self-sacrifice, it just humanity vs crime. Build. Arm yourselves. The devil himself will run away. I believe that.