Ok, so Cameron has announced that there will be a big investment in Englands road network - but theres a problem, the government is skint, so he is inviting private investors to help him out and take over the road network, and build new toll roads. He makes it sound like he is making a rallying cry to private companies to do their bit for the nations infrastructure, but its all very carefully engineered rhetoric - what he really means is he has rich and influential business friends who quite like the idea of running the England's roads for him, profiteering at our expense! This is another fiasco in the making, like railway privatisation was under the last Tory government! Tory's just love selling everything off - BT, British Gas, electric boards, water utilities, school playing fields, airports, railways, and now roads! There will be nothing left that belongs to the people! They even tried selling off OUR beautiful woodlands to make a bit of cash - but people weren't going to give up our most precious family jewels so easily. Its not just Tories that have done this though, Labour were guilty as well under Blair- allowing private companies to build new hospitals, schools, and then charging exhorbitant rent that means it will work out more expensive than the government just using our taxes to pay for the building work! I guess most politicians are quite happy selling their grand-mother, and soul, if needs be - so selling off Englands road network must seem like parting with tat at a car-boot sale.
Since private companies have long been involved in maintaining our roads, and building toll roads/bridges, then we probably shouldn't have been surprised by Dave's intentions - but like the railways, once you sell-off infrastructure (usually at a heavilty discounted price) is not easily reversible if it all goes pear-shape. This is obviously deliberate, the contracts are carefully written and have clauses that make cancellation extremely costly - which of course make private companies profit even more. I guess Dave is cramming in as much privatisation in the 3 years as he can, as he knows Clegg is too limp-wristed to stop anything new that the Tories propose! Selling the nations remaining assests, including the NHS (albeit partly), is almost certain to dent the Tories election chances, but by then Cameron will try and come up with a 'bribe' to pursuade UK voters to keep him (and the Liberals, if necessary) in power a bit longer - which if history is anything to go by, will probably work! Basically, expect a tax-cut pledge in the next Tory manifesto (and Labour for that matter)!
Anyway, back to road privatisation, sorry investment. I'm not sure how the road network is going to be better off just by selling it to one or more private companies - this will clearly cost us more, or mean less investment, as companies will inherently have overheads - and profits of course. The more companies involved the more costly/inefficient things become - and like the railways, they all want to pay their CEO's and directors lavishly. Any politician who says this set-up is a good idea, is either seriously deluded or seriously corrupted - either way, they shouldn't be in power.
Why do we need private investment anyway? The government rakes in billions from road tax and fuel duty, which could easily be used to fund investment - but of course, deliberately, all income is put into one big pot and the UK road network gets very little back from the state. Local roads have pot-holes, bottlenecks cause delays/polution, and road improvements schemes are scrapped. I am pro-environment and do not want to see towns and countryside ruined with new roads, but there has to be give-and take, this country is growing whether we like it not. There are plenty of ways to improve the network without completely new roads - such as widening, improved junctions, removal of wasteful bus-lanes, which can all be done without private investment. Its enough that private companies profit from road schemes in the first place, further layers of profiteering is just plain immoral.
I guess this is the end of integrated transport policy then? Public transport is no longer the answer to anything it seems - far better to pump money into roads, than encourage increase bus or rail use. Bus and rail fares are increasingly becoming unaffordable for those on low-incomes, or who have to commute long-distances. Improve roads by all means, but public transport should also be improved - you can reduce congestion by improving bus and rail services - there are hundreds of disused rail lines/links that could be repened to provide greater choice, and encourage more freight by rail. Lets have joined-up thinking, not political gimicks that only serve the interests of an elite few.
Dave also mentioned more toll-roads, as if these are some how the answer to everything - they never have been, thats why there are so few of them. Take the M6 toll, its quiet (too quiet) - its supposed to be taking traffic away from the original M6 around Birmingham, but it just doesn't make enough difference - anyone who uses the old M6 will tell you that, especially around J8. If the government wanted it could pay for all road schemes outright - its just an excuse that private companies are needed - its all about increasing opportunities for profiteers. He said no existing road will be tolled, and that may well be the case initially, but I don't really see how private investors will make any real money from taking-on existing routes, so tolls we probably be inevitable. Once you start the privatisation ball rolling, anything becomes possible - even if initial rhetoric suggests otherwise. Like the NHS for example - which WILL become fully privately-run eventually, its already happening and subsequent break-offs become easier and easier. Ok, it will probably still be funded by tax payers, but it WILL be in private hands.
Of course, privateering is not necessarily a bad thing - the railways boomed under privateering, and profiteering, and it was all down to private investment and initiative - but it resulted in duplication of routes, services, and a disperate rail network that was cobbled together around local/regional enterprise, it just wasn't designed as a complete efficient network - Beeching set about rationalising the network, rightly enough, but unfortunately as we now know that was done primarily for the benefit of road transportation. Building more toll-roads means increases transports costs, and toll-road avoidance will mean tax-payers having to bail-out companies who cannot make enough profit from them. Its just a disaster in the making.
So, we shall see how far Dave gets with this - and how much profit WILL be made. Of course, scrapping the 50% tax rate would coincide very nicely with road privatisation - we shall see if he dares to try getting away with both, and then we will know who he mixes with most! Will Captain Clegg save the day though? Sorry, what was I thinking - he's a Tory in disguise of course!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17423693
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