Those of us campaigning to dual the A1 were to be disappointed by the recent visit to the North East of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Listeners to a regional radio call-in show heard the Prime Minister being questioned by Louise Simpson, who lives in Fenwick, to the South of Berwick.
Louise spoke for the entire County when she cornered Gordon Brown by asking him when Labour was going to dual the A1. To the astonishment of Louise, myself, and I am sure of most listeners, the Prime Minister assured her that he was familiar with the problem posed by the A1 on the basis of having recently visited the Lake District. Mr Brown’s comments come just weeks after Lord Adonis, Labour’s Secretary for Transport, caused uproar by stating that the A1 runs through the North West.
I am very grateful to Louise for contacting me after the show ended. Despite not knowing where the road is, Labour nonetheless downgraded it from being one of national importance to one of only regional importance in 2004. This has prevented us from accessing UK and European funding for dualling ever since. So the immediate priority of my A1 Action Group is to return the A1 north of Morpeth to the national Strategic Road Network.
Labour’s ignorance also highlights the failure of local elected politicians to make the case for dualling the A1, in Westminster. If the Labour Government cannot even find the A1 on a map, after 13 years of running the Country, then we can only conclude that our local MP has not been a sufficiently influential advocate on this issue.
Yours,
Anne-Marie
26th February2010
Promoted by Dr Rob Loughenbury on behalf of Berwick Conservatives both at The Gardener’s House
Bondgate Without
Alnwick NE66 1PQ
Tel: 01665 602106
