A year on from the launch of the Tories ‘Commission on transport in the North' Labour are highlighting the Tory transport con.

The Conservatives launched their consultation on 29 January 2009. In the launch document the party promised to tour the North gathering ideas from the community and report back the results. There is no evidence that this has happened.

Lord Adonis, Labour's Secretary of State for Transport said:

"The Tories are trying to con the North with their plans on transport.

 "They were happy to get the headlines for launching their transport commission but there have been no results over the past year.  The commission was nothing more than a press release. In the meantime Labour has been investing in transport in the North.

 "People deserve to know what the Tories are really promising. They should not be allowed to plan to cut transport investment ‘further and faster’ and try to hide this with talk of transport commissions that deliver absolutely nothing."

 In contrast Labour is delivering record improvements in the North West including the:

 -   £200m rail electrification programme

Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis confirmed, on December 14, the details of a £200m rail electrification programme between Liverpool, Manchester and Preston.

Lord Adonis made the announcement while visiting rail stations that will be on the new electric lines – including Manchester, Bolton, Chorley, Preston, Blackpool, Wigan, St Helens and Liverpool.

The regional tour followed the Chancellor's PBR announcement that the Government was extending the rail electrification programmes for the North West announced in July.

Electric trains are not only faster, more reliable and more comfortable, but they generate less carbon than their diesel counterparts.

-   £4.4m smart ticketing scheme for Greater Manchester and Merseyside    

TRANSPORT Secretary Andrew Adonis announced on December 15 that Greater Manchester and Merseyside will each receive £2.2m to implement a new smart ticketing scheme.

The scheme enables public transport passengers to travel without a paper ticket.

Smart tickets use microchip technology to store information on a smartcard, phone or bank card - improving journey times by providing a faster hassle free method of purchase.

The project will be rolled out over the next five years, with the Government's goal for every area of the North West to have access to smart ticketing by 2020.

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