High Speed Link to Leeds/Yorkshire/North East

[chameleon]

Speaking of oil.... Way off-topic but it will be seen here.When VAt was reduced to 15%, duty on petrol and other things, rose by the amount required to offset any saving and thus retain the status-quo in terms of revenue to the Exchequer.I am already hearing on news programmes that the cost of fuel will increase when the VAT rate returns to 17.5%.Opportunity for a quick hike in price here through the back door. Surely at that point duty should decrease by a similar proportion to off-set a now inappropriate rise in price?It's not just personal driving which would suffer - there will be the knock-on effect on the cost of anything we buy which has to be transported.Is it time to start writing to your MP?    

[cnosni]

chameleon wrote: Speaking of oil.... Way off-topic but it will be seen here.When VAt was reduced to 15%, duty on petrol and other things, rose by the amount required to offset any saving and thus retain the status-quo in terms of revenue to the Exchequer.I am already hearing on news programmes that the cost of fuel will increase when the VAT rate returns to 17.5%.Opportunity for a quick hike in price here through the back door. Surely at that point duty should decrease by a similar proportion to off-set a now inappropriate rise in price?It's not just personal driving which would suffer - there will be the knock-on effect on the cost of anything we buy which has to be transported.Is it time to start writing to your MP?     Your MP will be too busy filling in expenses forms claiming back their own fuel purchases to even care

[chameleon]

cnosni wrote: chameleon wrote: Speaking of oil.... Way off-topic but it will be seen here.When VAt was reduced to 15%, duty on petrol and other things, rose by the amount required to offset any saving and thus retain the status-quo in terms of revenue to the Exchequer.I am already hearing on news programmes that the cost of fuel will increase when the VAT rate returns to 17.5%.Opportunity for a quick hike in price here through the back door. Surely at that point duty should decrease by a similar proportion to off-set a now inappropriate rise in price?It's not just personal driving which would suffer - there will be the knock-on effect on the cost of anything we buy which has to be transported.Is it time to start writing to your MP?     Your MP will be too busy filling in expenses forms claiming back their own fuel purchases to even care My MP is 'Stepping down' at the next election and if the extent of his efforts in helping with a fairly urgent matter with a concern operating a Government scheme we have a problem with is any guide - he's already given up. Presumably not needing (personal) support for the next election is reducing his need to be more than a token presence. [edit - In fairness must note, he's now managed some action.]

[chameleon]

Rail News -http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 5654778.jp

[cnosni]

a good letter in the YEP as well tonighthttp://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/letters- ... 532.jpWell constructed and argued in my opinion,especially with the Scottish independence vote.PS,let em ave it,as long as we keep all our tax,and if the Welsh went as well wed be rolling in it!!

[arthor]

It is a good point raised by the writer of the letter but the figures are slighty awry. They seem to be based upon an equal level of taxation across the population of both countries. The highest taxes are paid in the south east and this decreases as one goes north. By the time you get to Scotland, the average tax revenue per head of population has gone down to the extent that they pay less tax than they are given back in services. They are in fact permanently in debt to England, particularly the taxpayers of the south east. The idea of paying billions to have a high speed train running to the capital of a country that if it goes inedependent, will be a backwater of Europe is preposterous. Although I would be sorry to see the Scots depart, I am quite happy to let them pay their own way in the world. We will see how much free university education they can provide then. It would be quite amusing to see Salmond fall flat on his face. Even if they do get their independence and not get our money anymore, they will get some via the EU as a parasite country living off the larger ones.

[cnosni]

arthor wrote: It is a good point raised by the writer of the letter but the figures are slighty awry. They seem to be based upon an equal level of taxation across the population of both countries. The highest taxes are paid in the south east and this decreases as one goes north. By the time you get to Scotland, the average tax revenue per head of population has gone down to the extent that they pay less tax than they are given back in services. They are in fact permanently in debt to England, particularly the taxpayers of the south east. The idea of paying billions to have a high speed train running to the capital of a country that if it goes inedependent, will be a backwater of Europe is preposterous. Although I would be sorry to see the Scots depart, I am quite happy to let them pay their own way in the world. We will see how much free university education they can provide then. It would be quite amusing to see Salmond fall flat on his face. Even if they do get their independence and not get our money anymore, they will get some via the EU as a parasite country living off the larger ones. Well cerrtainly by amount actually collected,but the Scots are subject to the same basic percentage of income tax and NI.I used to be very "British".I was brought up to support all the home nations at football.It wasnt until my teens that i became of the hostility towards the English from many quarters of the Gaelic populations of this island.Over the years it seems that this has increased further,and quite frankly we,England,are in the position of being hated and fleeced for money at the same time.Now im not for one minute saying that Scotland has been an indespensible part of the development of Britain since the 18th century, think of the engineers,explorers and soldiers it has produced.But try and have a constructive discussion with many a Scot that neither country would have reached the highs that we have without each other and you get a sneering rebuke,a complete disregard for the benefits of the partnership,i dont think we would have had the Empire we did and i think we would have struggled even more in WW1 and 2 .Many Scots refuse to ackowledge this to be the case,especially that smug faced cretin Salmond,who once described the British Army in Scotland,as an "Army of occupation"So ive come to the conclusion that they are quite entitled to leave the UK,just so long as they pay for it either from their own tax or from the EU.The referendum will be interesting,Scots people are canny and they know when their bread is buttered,i think that most Scots would love independence,after all they were a seperate nation until the Union,but they know that without the union they will becomeless than a bit player on the European and international stage,being dependent on EU handouts to maintain the health service etc which is subsidised by the English.I think England would be monetarily better off without Scotland and Wales,the times when we relied on their populations to supplement Englands are long long gone.Whether or not we would be culturally better off is open to debate.So,i would hold on to any notion of extending the HS line to Scotland til after then,and if they are wiling to stump up for the line north of the border after "yes" referendum then fair enough.If not then it doesnt go there.

[chameleon]

Looks like an update in our favourite rag - (with spurious links removed!)A new £30 billion high-speed rail (HSR) network, with 250mph trains, which will improve transport links to Sheffield and Leeds, has been announced by the Government.Transport Secretary Lord Adonis gave Labour's backing to a new 335-mile London to Scotland HSR network which would drastically reduce rail journey times.Running from Euston in London, the first part of the route - from London to Birmingham - would start in 2017, cost between £15.8 billion and £17.4 billion and would reduce the journey time between the UK's two biggest cities to between 30 and 50 minutes.Lord Adonis said the Government supported a y-network of lines, with HSR lines north of Birmingham running either side of the Pennines to Manchester, the East Midlands, Sheffield and Leeds as well as to Liverpool, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Glasgow and Edinburgh.He said the Birmingham city centre for the HSR network would be at Curzon Street and there would be interchange stations with the cross-London Crossrail project west of Paddington in west London and near to Birmingham airport.Lord Adonis said the project would create 10,000 jobs and yield £2 in benefits for every £1 spent. The first 120 miles between London and the West Midlands would cost between £15.8 and £17.4 billion."The cost per mile beyond Birmingham is then estimated to halve, taking the overall cost of the 335 mile Y-shaped network to about £30 billion."This cost would be phased over more than a decade after the start of construction, which would not be until after the completion of Crossrail in 2017," he said."The journey time from London to the West Midlands would be reduced to between 30 and 50 minutes, depending on the stations used, with Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield all brought to within 75 minutes of London - down from almost two hours 10 minutes now - and through services from Glasgow and Edinburgh to London down to just three and a half hours," he said.The new network "would provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to overcome the acute connectivity limitations of the Victorian rail network," he said

[raveydavey]

Just think - by the time it reaches Leeds the Supertram might be up and running...

[edgey2001]

Does anyone have any thoughts on where the HS2 link through Leeds ( to built in 20 years) will be. The route will be announced later on in the year, at the moment on the HS2 website, it will go through Sheffield then onto Leeds in virtually a straight line without much deviation.