General Election postponed until June 7th. Another two months for the LFTS to bore us all to death with their futile arguments.

According to the 'Guardian'(Guardian ??????) last week the hauliers only pay 80% back in taxes and duty to the Government towards the cost of the damage they do to the environment and the roads.

Is this true Shirley ? I think we should be told the truth.

This isn't based on another of those surveys is it?

The one that said that if you take one of the heaviest lorries (ie continental, so it doesn't pay any tax anyway), and it's overloaded to the most extreme levels detected, and it happens to be amongst the worst maintained, and so worst polluting (air/noise/visual/etc/etc), and it's forced to take the most inappropriate routes, on the most inappropriate roads, and so causes the most extreme levels of congestion, pollution, road, bridge, building damage, and the most upset to NIMBY's who want to live near a major arterial route, don't want a bypass, but don't want trucks on "their" road, etc, etc, and you put the highest possible "cost" to all those factors, including the stress and trauma suffered by the anti-car lobby and the so called global "warming" costs that the planet will have to suffer, then the tax paid by that truck will not quite cover the estimated "costs".

So I'd better scrap my car straight away then.

http://www.excite.co.uk/news/story/UKOnlineReportTopNews/IIMFFH60980_2001-03-31_23-10-35_B287668

BBC says Blair postpones election to June


01/04/01 00:10

LONDON (Reuters) - The BBC reported on Saturday night that Prime Minister Tony Blair had decided to postpone the general election until June.
The BBC's political editor Andrew Marr said Blair had decided to delay the elections from the expected May 3 date until a date in June as the foot-and-mouth epidemic ravaging livestock spiralled.

But Blair's Downing Street Office denied he had set a date for the elections.

"Obviously he has been focusing on the foot-and-mouth disease. He has been listening to people who have told him the election should be postponed.

"I am sure he will want to make a decision sooner rather than later. But I have been with him throughout the day and he has made no decision as yet," a Downing Street spokesman said.

Speaking on the News At Ten, Marr said: "A June election gets the government away from a pretty bleak period -- everything from the weather to this ghastly foot-and-mouth crisis, to worries about the stock markets on Wall Street.

"It certainly and crucially gives Tony Blair some breathing space to demonstrate he is getting the foot-and-mouth crisis under control."

Marr did not give a source for his report, but said an official announcement confirming the postponement would be made by Downing Street on Monday.

Sky News followed the BBC with a report on what it said was Blair's decision to delay the elections, saying the story came "from the highest sources in the government."

The news follows speculation that cabinet ministers were divided on the date for the elections.

Those Labour politicians in favour of a May 3rd election say a delay would play into the hands of the Conservative Party -- currently lagging 20 points behind in the opinion polls.

If you listened to the newsacast properly you would have realised that the GENERAL ELECTION was never mentioned. Andrew Marr was talking about the LOCAL ELECTIONS. Remember you heard it here first. Horses mouth etc.

No Bogush

It was based on the total tax take from HGV's divided by the cost of repairing the damage that they cause plus estimated environmental pollution costs.

And whichever way you look at it the Hauliers owe the taxpayer a lot of money.

reagrds

Dave May

The BBC reported on Saturday night that Prime Minister Tony Blair had decided to postpone the general election until June

Marr did not give a source for his report, but said an official announcement confirming the postponement would be made by Downing Street on Monday.

...how can you postpone an election that hasn't been called?

In reality the announcement will be that the Council Elections that are being postponed until June and that fact is what was being reported.

It's no secret they planned for a General Election on May 3rd but what gets lost in the tides is the fact that it was only a prefered date and not an official one. Who could have known that a Foot & Mouth epidemic would come along and change everything? Who would blame a government for keeping their options open for as long as possible?

If the boot was on the other foot?

Yes, Dave

It was based on the total tax take from HGV's divided by the cost of repairing the damage that they cause plus estimated environmental pollution costs.

Based on worst case scenarios and ranging from trucks damaging bridges and stuctures up to 20 metres (is it) away with the vibration pollution from them bouncing over speed humps, via the noise pollution as they brake and accelerate through traffic calming, all the way to flooding the country under 8 foot of water as they cause the ice age predicted earlier by the environmentalists to melt away with all the global warming that they pump out of their exhausts.

And whichever way you look at it the goverment owe the motorist a lot of money.