SECRETARY of State for Environment, Hilary Benn clearly loved the Tilbury Ferry. He could visit the Kent candidates then hop on the ferry and visit the Essex candidates.
With eight Labour heavyweights having visited Thurrock already, it is clear that the seat that needs to defend a 6.5% swing is clearly a vital seat for Labour.
With the UK (according to the OECD) now seeing one of the most robust returns to growth Mr Benn’s message was clear, that it is vital to keep the economy on track by withdrawing millions from the economy now.
As said yesterday, Tory candidate, Jackie Doyle-Price, she believes Labour will bankrupt the country if they return to power and that Labour savings are not credible.
Accompanied by Tilbury councillor Bukky Okunade, we spoke to Mr Benn to assess how he felt the local and the national campaigns are going.
Blimey, that tilbury ferry is in desperate need of a re-paint, it looks in a terrible state.
Mr Benn talks about sustaining the economic recovery, maybe if his party had been more frugal with the countries money rather than constant borrowing as Brown has done we would not be in this mess.
Welcome to Thurrock Mr Benn, I was pleased to see that you and Carl took advantage of a crucial service do the campaigning.
Sadly what wasn’t mentioned was the fact that there is still a battle to be fought and won,
The Ferry is far from secure.
Please look at what isn’t being said.
We have a reprieve nothing more, we must not be going down this same road every year.
Carl will I am sure be in the big house, we need a voice in the area who is able to work closely with the main players, including Kent and the owners.
That mantle will hopefully come to me.
The Ferry is a community service and needs to be saved completely.
Ian
The only way to secure the ferry service is for more people to bother using it then it wont need a penny of taxpayers subsidy.
Nowhere is there any council proposal to axe the ferry service. The ferry route is owned by Kent County Council so Thurrock Council can’t scrap it even if they tried.
The only person who claimed the council was scrapping the ferry was the Labour parliamentary candidate Mr Morris.
I understand the council have increased the subsidy from £18,000 to £88,000 with a similar sum from Kent County Council and the service is still making a £180,000 loss as passenger numbers decline. Is this a good use of council tax payers funds?
How much exactly should the council give to the private ferry company in subsidy? Will they be asking for £350,000 next year to stay afloat? With all council facing a 10% cut in funding over the next decade which council services should be scrapped or cut back to prop up a failing business?
The most important question is why does the Government fully subsidise the Woolwich ferry but not the Tilbury ferry?
Valid comments, which need answers,
I am grateful to Carl for his assistance, but lets not lose sight of the fact there is clear need for this service.
We need to look at all the options.
Closure is NOT one of them, too many lives will be impacted on if the Ferry goes, and that is a fact. I will not let that happen.
Therefore we need to get people using it regularly, there is I am sure a solution.
We have time and it will be completely looked at.
As far as I can see closure has never been an option? If Thurrock axed their funding Kent County Council would have to make up the shortfall? So what is the point of a save the ferry campaign if the ferry was never under threat of closure in the first place?
Only good thing to come out of the campaign is more publicity and more people will use the ferry.
I hear the save the ferry march was a flop as only 3 councillors some people from Canvey, a few Thurrock residents a few children and a couple of dogs bothered to turn up?
‘Labour savings aren’t credible’? Of course they’re not, but given that the Tories reckon they can find even more, should Ms D-P be saying this? Don’t these people read the memos from Central Office? Neither of these innumerate parties deserves a Commons majority and that can be prevented by voting Tory in Sth Basildon/E Thurrock to remove Brown’s Commons majority, but backing Labour in Thurrock to block a Tory one.