The whole idea is a creation scheme for yet more jobsworths.
When the London congestion charge started it lost money so they had to put up the charges to pay for the collection.
Yes put more public transport in and pay for it from taxes we have already paid instead of paying the bankers.
VOTE NO

C Mather, Wigan,

Dont do it.We have it here in Australia in our bigger citys and its costing our people a fortune just to get to work.They say its quicker and saves time, not so.People are starting to wake up and use differant routes and they dont have to pay and are getting there quicker.

Barbara Sullivan, Bundaberg, Australia

I find it difficult to see why central government should be so concerned to impose this feature against local government opposition, because alleviating local frustrations is not normally their concern and the toll money can hardly be a factor. It does suggest that surveillance is the primary consideration.

Henry Percy, London , UK

We need to vote down the proposals and if the Govenment 'punishes' Manchester for doing this hit them where it hurts at the ballot box!

Chris, Altrincham, Cheshire

what we need more than anything is major investment and improvements in the road network, all car journeys and bus journeys ( 80 % of all public transport ) representing 99% of all travel share the same roads, forget the damn trams its new roads that are desperately needed.

mike, bolton,

Do this or else? Am I alone here, or do the British now, officially, live under a dictatorship?

trisha, San Ignacio, Belize, C.A.

It is very unusual for a Labour government who has a proven record for being anti-motorist to use so heavy handed tactics. . What about those who drive into Manchester every day, they have no say in the biased democratic (maybe) process and they are the one who will be paying.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

Congestion charging will move business out of the CBD, closer to residential areas. More business will be done electronically (think office parks), while inner city slums will form. This won't aid regeneration.

Neil, Norwich, UK

To call Manchester a guinea pig to test congestion charging in the UK is misleading. Firstly, London has a scheme, albeit with slightly different technology and a different business model. Secondly, other schemes similar to the one proposed for Manchester exist in other ciies, e.g. Stockholm.

Bob Cratchett, London, UK

Stand firm Manchester, the people are behind you.

When the government withdraws the funding the world will see what this cabal really are.

They will have to back down or face the the backlash that follows

Jane, Cambridge,

As if labour can afford to jeopardise the votes of Manchester.

Unless of course they've already given up on winning the next general election. haha.

Dave, manchester, uk

The requirement for improved public transport should be a completely seperate argument as to whether congestion charging should be introduced. Labour has failed to deliver every one of their manifested transport commitments - they have no idea when it comes to public transport management.

mcj, Nottingham, UK

I SAY NO. THEY COULD DOUBLE IT!!!! To quote a local Trafford Councillor "There are two reasons why I oppose the TIF proposals. First it's a tax on motorists when the economic situation suggests we shouldn't be putting any more tax on people and it doesn't bring any specific benefits to Trafford."

Andrea Fox, Trafford,

MPs need to be forced to use Public Transport themselves (forced into depending on Public Transport); then they will realise that it is too unreliable, too expensive and how foolish they all were to privatise it.
MPs need to wake-up before the public get fed-up and vote for the extremists

Phil, Middlewich, England

So Step 1 is the increase the train fairs during peak times to £6, step 2 is to make people pay to drive thier cars, Step 3 is to increase car and petrol tax. In return do we get motor ways like Germany? Nope. Do we get a public transport system like Japan or London nope. so where does the money go?

Sun, Coventry,

Vote No Manchester!! This is another tax which will cost millions to implement and will be a bureaucratic nightmare. The money will go in Stagecoach etc's greedy pockets.

Suziebee, Manchester,

I object to the advertisement on television for the "Yes" campaign. Who is funding this? There is none for the "No". Where I live we will have no benefit whatsoever for this. There is no tram where I live and none planned and they are reducing the number of trains - so why should we say "yes"

Veronica, Manchester,

But does Geoff Hoon have the guts to tell a public meeting, face to face, say outside Manchester Town Hall, how he plans to penalise the city of it votes against his wishes for this new stealth tax? I doubt it-Mancunians would rightly chuck him in the canal or worse.

Ben, Ex-Mancunian, England

Those "brave" politicians who support this scheme can expect to be out on their ear when they next face the Electorate, no matter how big the bribe is.
London was never opened to competition in Transport the way the rest of the Country was. It is never short of investment and subsidy is it?

Mike, Oldham, UK

no no no no no that is what road tax is for, just another labour stealth tax on the pretext of saving the enviroment. The only green they care about is money and whether or not they will remain in power. Say no to labour in 2010!

kyle smith, bristol, uk

So the government are bullying manchesters citizens to have electronically tagged cars so their location can be traced within the city?

Why are there nieve people still denying that governments around the world are trying to create Big Brother society? Isnt it painfully obvious?

Martin, York, U.K.

This is ridiculous - the extra funding has been conditional on approval of the charge scheme since day one. The Yes campaign has had this as a cornerstone of their campaign for over a year. It is not new, and to call it bullying is misleading.

George, Manchester,

All I have to say is vote NO, you only have to look at the Mersey tunnel to see what manchester will end up like, in the last 2 years price's have gone up by 80% alone. 3 years my sound like a long time for free travel to work but think about he rest of your life you will be paying!

MR W Jones, Lisverpool, England

This is not an unjust decision. The government has a lot of cities clamouring for a limited amount of money. It also needs to know how to make road charging work. It is just trading grants for a willingness to experiment. If people don't like it, they can pay for the investment themselves.

Pete, Epping , UK

This is our chance to make a stand Manchester! Fight them! For all the speed cameras, ved, and fuel duty make a stand!!

Chris, Oldham, UK

Bribery. No surprises there.

Martin, maidenhead, uK

This is not democracy! If we don't like the way you vote you get no funding at all. Ridiculous.

Rob, Singapore,

The govt is confusing 2 quite separate issues. It says that a new public transport system is necessary for economic expansion. But expansion would pay for a new system; sensible investment is needed in any case. If congestion is a problem, it needs to be dealt with irrespective of any other issue.

Jim Guest, G. Manchester,

Just to to pick on a point, Greater Manchester has 2.6 million people.

Andy, Manchester,