Canvassing in Broughton this evening

Cumbria Conservatives had a successful doorknocking session in Broughton-in-Furness this evening. (We also had teams out in other part of the county but this was the one I attended.

Issues raised included the proportion of money spent in Cumbria in the West and South of the county, particularly on roads - the need to improve roads in the area such as the A595 and A592 being a particular concern.

(The need to improve roads in Cumbria in general and the A595 in particular is of course an issue close to my heart which is why I have raised it every time the full county council has met since my election to the council last May.)


(Left to right above: my wife Brigid, myself, local SLDC councillor Ann Hall, local county councillor Matt Brereton, Conservative CCC group leader James Airey. Not in picture: Brenda Lauderdale, county councillor Ben Shirley. I would add that nobody has photoshopped Matt Brereton's hat!)

Comments

Jim said…
there are 31.7 million cars in the uk. now on average each one is paying £140 each for road tax (some more some less, but that is an average)

so there you have 4.438 Billion pounds to spend on roads. The current fuel duty is 57.95p per litre of fuel, regardless of if its petrol or diesel, but in reality that is 69.54p per litre as they have the gaul to add VAT to fuel duty as well as the fuel.

so we will live in fantasy land just to prove my point that each vehicle uses just 20 litres of fuel on average per month. this brings in another 5.290 Billion pounds per year.

so now (even using my fantasy land 20 litres per month) we have £9.728 Billion to spend on road improvements.

But this is just it, its not happening. Last time i saw an article (and I do admit it was a while ago) less than 15% of road taxes are spent on roads
10:29 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
We don't use what economists call "hypothecated taxes" (e.g. taxes the revenue from which is dedicated to providing a particular service) in Britain.

If we actually spent more than a tiny fraction of the money raised by taxes on vehicles and fuel on our roads, you are quite right - they would not be in anything like as bad a state.

11:14 pm
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