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news
2017 manifestos (British Cycling).pngParty manifestos represent "progress" for cycling, says Boardman
In what is perhaps to some degree a reflection of how low the bar has been set up until now, British Cycling policy advisor Chris Boardman says that the various parties’ manifestos represent ‘progress’ for cycling.
“The three political parties that have been in government all make commitments to everyday cycling in their manifestos," said Boardman.
"This represents progress from the last general election in 2015, and reflects what we at British Cycling already know – that demand from towns and cities across the country to prioritise cycling can no longer be ignored.”
Boardman did however go on to highlight the somewhat woolly nature of many of the positions taken.
“There is a long way to go. Commitments are still vague, investment still low, and there is not enough focus on building the infrastructure necessary to enable normal people to cycle to school or work which would benefit society as a whole. We have recommended that the next government commits at least five per cent of transport spend every year to delivering the infrastructure necessary to get Britain cycling."
Both the Conservatives and Labour say that they will implement the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS), which was published in April. However, neither commits to increased investment.
Five per cent of transport spend per year would equate to around £1.4bn in 2017 but as things stand, just £240m has been identified to be invested in walking and cycling.
The Liberal Democrats go further and say they would deliver the Get Britain Cycling recommendations made by the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group. These include investing £10 per head on cycling per year, rising to £20 per head. This equates to £650m rising to £1.3bn per year.
The Green Party says it would reprioritise transport investment and has identified £2bn per year from the roads fund which would be used to develop cycling networks.
There’s more detail about the cycling commitments that have been made in each of the manifestos over at British Cycling, while Peter Walker has rated them all out of ten on The Guardian’s Bike Blog.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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23 comments
Ah, The Canary, that well known political news site, created to publish the stories that the lying mainstream Tory media are afraid to.
My recommendation would be to ask your own questions do a bit of digging for reliable data and make your own conclusions. Not simply hunt out opinion pieces that reflect what you want to believe.
https://ig.ft.com/sites/numbers/economies/uk
I have voted for different parties in the past. Personally I'm hoping for a Tory win this time around, but mostly because I want them to be held accountable for the success or failure of Brexit.
OK lets tackle another: Income tax evasion, avoidance and the 'tax gap'.
https://fullfact.org/economy/tax-avoidance-evasion-uk/
There are several figures quoted which are claimed to be sourced from HMRC.
To quote a few from a total of £34bn estimated losses.
Tax lost to:
Evasion £4.4bn*
Avoidance £2.6bn**
Undeclared earnings £6.2bn
Criminal act £5.1bn
The overall tax gap (difference between theoretical and actual tax take) has dropped from 8.4% in 2005/6 to 6.4% in 2013/14.
As far as I am aware these figures do not include corporate tax avoidance.
Total annual tax receipts have risen from around £500bn to £600bn since 2010.
Source: www.economicshelp.org/blog/4001/economics/tax-revenue-sources-in-uk
*I'm pretty sure that wealthy people from all walks of life are going to be involved, not just a particular politician's millionaire mates. Vexing to us plebs as this is, it is a crime and subject to criminal prosecution and it does represent less than 1% of theoretical tax take.
**Just today there is a story in the national press about an aggresive tax avoidance scheme that was using tax loopholes for the film industry that has been declared void and some £700m of tax will be due from a number of wealthy individuals including sports people and media personalities.
Can't help thinking that we're wandering a long way from the aims of this site, but whatever, I'm sure you'll enjoy this https://www.thecanary.co/2017/06/01/media-freaks-corbyn-tories-just-cras...
The UK is the worst performing economy in the developed world, and Canada, which is using policies the same as proposed by labour, is top.
If you are worried about the national debt then don`t vote labour because they are planning to borrow massively.
Hi burtthebike,
Just to throw some evidence into the spokes of your political campaign.
UK national debt as a percentage of GDP rose significantly under the Gordon Brown government between 2007 and 2010 to around 76% of GDP after many years at 40 - 45% during the Tony Blair administration and back to the Thatcher era.
Since 2010 the rate of increase of the debt has reduced, reaching just under 90% where it has remained for the last few years.
Not sure how useful this is as a measure of good governance given world events and outside factors, but there are plenty of charts available from non partisan sources via Google.
I'm glad you like evidence, as the national debt has doubled over the past seven years of tory rule, going up more than all labour governments combined. And during that time, most people's income has fallen but May's millionaire mates just get richer and don't even pay tax on it.
Still reeling from the sight of Corbyn's massive raised stem and that epic WIlson grey shellsuit he rides in.
Who gives a shit, he rides a bike. Not just for photo ops but to actually get places. I wouldn't want some fat MAMIL on a £8k bike for PM, see how well that worked for Australia with Tony Abbott.
I appreciate this table.
After the chaos and confusion of the past seven years of the tories failing to do much and taking forever to do it, anyone who believes that they actually intend to do anything decent for cyclists is an incorrigible optimist. They make all the right noises, but when it comes to transport spending, building roads and HS2, neither of which has an economic case, get all the money, and cycle provision is pitiful, if you're lucky.
My own tory MP has been spectacularly useless, and his election leaflet, which came through my door today lists his achievements: he supported a massive road scheme and campaigned against cuts in library hours. I went to see him a couple of times, about the council making the roads more dangerous for cyclists, but I might as well have head butted the wall for all the good it did. The council is tory and so is he.
Wow! You've actually received election literature? In my constituency, the result is so taken for granted (by the incumbent and by everyone else) that nobody has actually done any campaigning or leafleting.
90% of it was how great Theresa May is, which might be slightly counterproductive as she is now seen as not "strong and stable" but "weak and wobbly". The tories have made this election about leadership and their leader is looking extremely defensive and vulnerable.
Because of not changing her mind about showing up to a televised slanging match?
Beginning to think they're all as bad as each other but in different ways.
I came to the conclusion that I had no idea who I could vote for last week, then remembered that I'm away on a mountain biking trip next week so will stop thinking about the bunch of utter c*nts...
Reminds me of the graffito on a tory poster I saw yesterday "putting the N in CUTS"
OK that's quite funny
90% of it was how great Theresa May is, which might be slightly counterproductive as she is now seen as not "strong and stable" but "weak and wobbly". The tories have made this election about leadership and their leader is looking extremely defensive and vulnerable.
[/quote]
Because of not changing her mind about showing up to a televised slanging match?
Beginning to think they're all as bad as each other but in different ways.
[/quote]
Because she called an election after saying dozens of times that she wouldn't, because she caved in immediately on a manifesto policy at the first sign of opposition, because she won't face real people in public, only true blue tories at closed meetings. She's a liability not an asset.
I've been doorstopped three times this week by Labour I've now told them to **** off and not come back till we've paid off Gordon Browns Overdraft, which is a shame as I actually like Ben Bradshaw as a person and whilst cycling has absolutely diddly squat to do with politics he does ride his bike all over the place.
Wow! Whatever do you say to the tories, who have doubled the national debt in seven years, despite the austerity programme with real people's incomes declining, food banks, NHS in crisis from underfunding, and local authorities cutting into the bone because they've already trimmed everything possible. But it's all ok because May's millionaire mates have seen their incomes increase exponentially and they don't even have to pay tax on it like us idiots.
First things first, you gotta have a good job and stable economy to ride bikes...
"Not Referenced" by UKIP is a great result!
It's a shame, considering all those maillot jaunes that Paul Nuttall has won.
From the above Tories are more pro cycling than labour.... Who would have thunk it!