Mersey Project gets the go ahead

Some good news for the North West?

The Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has just announced that the stalled Mersey Bridge Project will be getting the go ahead after his government pledged to pump an extra £150m into the project.

The Mersey Gateway had been put on hold pending the outcome of the Treasury's Spending Review last year although the Chancellor George Osborne confirmed that the six-lane toll bridge, agreed under the last government, would escape the axe under the review.

Hammond confirmed the agreement in a news release issued today by the Department for Transport, saying: “The Mersey Gateway Bridge is an important transport project which will improve journeys and boost economic growth. It will not only provide much needed traffic relief for the existing Silver Jubilee Bridge, but also help to regenerate the Borough of Halton, the Liverpool city region and the wider north west by improving transport links, maximising local development and regional economic growth opportunities.

He added: “In response to the Government’s request to reduce costs, Halton Borough Council have achieved savings of around £30m on the original proposed cost – meaning the scheme will offer better value to the taxpayer, whilst bringing vital improvements to the region. Further cost savings are expected through a competitive procurement process.”

Construction is expected to begin in 2013 and is due to be open for traffic in 2016. The construction cost (including land) is around £600m which the Department for Transport will support with a mixture of capital grant and revenue funding for the bridge’s continued operation.

No tax cuts but let's promote the family-verdict on the Tories Spring Conference

As the Tory spring conference comes to an end in the North East,Philip Hammond, the shadow Treasury chief secretary is inteviewed by the Sunday Telegraph and rules out any wholesale tax cuts in a next Tory Administration.

"When the money's piled up in the pot, then you give it away in tax cuts. It only makes sense to look at this over an economic cycle. You can't look at it in a single year, or even necessarily in a four-year parliament

His comments re affirm pledges made by both David Cameron and George Osbourne over the weekend and again in an inteview with William Hague on this morning's Andrew Marr programme.

Iain Martin is a little to say the least disappointed pointing out

It took Britain just six years to win the Second World War. The lack of ambition on this subject is breathtaking.
There will be many a Tory activist, and more than a few members of the shadow cabinet, reading Hammond's words on tax and getting very angry

Generally though the spring conference seems to have gone well.The big theme was the family,Cameron following uo his appearance on ITN with a speach in which he affirms

My ambition is to make Britain more family-friendly. To make our country a better place to bring up children. Not just because it's the right thing to do, not just because my family is the most important thing in my life, but because families should be the most important thing in our country's life.

Something that will go down down in the Blue rinse brigade.

Although not in all quarters,

I'm not convinced about David Cameron's "family friendly" agenda that dominated his speech at the end of the conference.
Obviously he thinks it's a vote winner. But I thought it was rather odd that the Tory leader promised to spend £200 million on recruiting more health visitors and at the same time told his party they would have to get used to saying no more often than yes to spending pledges.

says Jon Craig

And over at the Sindy Cole Morton asks whether Cameron will regret placing tots in the frontline?

As he points out

Gordon Brown wouldn't feel comfortable with any of it. Both as a politician and a man he seems to have benefited enormously from having a wife and two children – although there has been suffering too, in the death of their first-born, Jennifer. Mr Brown has a son with cystic fibrosis but he has never allowed his family to be filmed or photographed, except for official portraits.