Abolish the Congestion Charge

Chris Prior is standing for election to the London Assembly under the name ‘Abolish the Congestion Charge’ – a registered description of the Stop Congestion Charging Party.

“London needs better government. We must start by abolishing the congestion charge.

The congestion charge is a glaring example of bad government. Not only is it an unfair tax, it costs over £5.50 in every £8 to collect and it simply does not work.

Congestion and emissions are real problems that require real solutions rather than half baked schemes that don’t deliver.

Traffic speeds are slower than before the congestion charge was introduced, congestion has actually increased by nearly 25% on the edges of the Zone and there has been no measurable improvement in air quality.

The congestion charge relies on punishing people through excessive fines to show any kind of return, and as such, it fails the test of good public policy.

The scheme is fundamentally flawed; believing you can reform it to make it “better” is like thinking you can make a concrete plane fly by giving it a new coat of paint.

The failure of the congestion charge, however, is the tip of the iceberg.

Londoners have had enough of politicians who say one thing and do another, with government that hinders rather than helps.

We must transform public transport; get the police back on our streets, improve the environment and cut the Council Tax.

London deserves more for less. Every year Londoners pay £15bn more in taxes than they receive back in services. We believe it is time to vote to put the capital first.

Our policies include:

Scrapping the Zone 1 – 6 fare system: We will abolish the current fare structure and introduce a £1 ticket that will give unlimited travel for 2 hours, a day ticket would be £2. Transfers between buses, tubes and trains would not require the purchase of new tickets.

We must fundamentally improve London’s taxis, and make provision to cut fares by 50%. We must reintroduce electric trolley buses, and install charging points for electric and plug in hybrid cars on every street

Effective policing: Nearly £100,000 is spent on policing the average street , we believe you deserve far better value for their money.

Abolishing the Council Tax for pensioners, it is another unfair tax that must be scrapped.

Allowing people to opt out of paying the Olympic Levy and introducing discounts on tickets for those who do pay.

Transforming public libraries, parks and leisure facilities.

Introducing free high speed wireless internet access across London.

Full details on all our policies can be found at www.stopcc.com

We believe that politics should be about delivering what YOU want, rather than accepting what THEY want to give you. The only way to get better government is to vote for it.“