New Labour shows it can still communicate with ordinary people!

Unfortunately for Labour, something has gone wrong with the message, instead of articulating and empathising with the public, they seem to have reverted to the old Labour screw you, we know best attitude.

This must be the quote or even joke of the week, from local MP for North Thanet and Transport Minister, Stephen Ladyman "Every time charging is introduced, it is unpopular until the point at which it comes in. Once it is introduced, everybody loves it. I am not saying that everyone loves the congestion charge but more people now support it than they did before it came in," as quoted by KM news, pardon, either everyone loves it or they don't?

Kentnews.co.uk has another remarkable quotation, "There will be plenty of opportunities to engage people and win them over. And if we can't win them over, it can't go ahead." and like the previous one, it takes some believing, since Labour's Ken Livingstone, consulted Londoners over congestion charging and then did what he was going to do anyway.

As for the Blair e-mail, when you cutaway all the waffle, it basically boils down to this, road congestion will be resolved by crude rationing based on the ability to pay, this meaning that road use will become the exclusive preserve of the wealthy, and this is the extent of Labour ability to solve traffic congestion. Labour might be able to hold on to the moral high ground, if at the same time they were proposing some low-cost mass public transport solutions which clearly then not.

You would think that Stephen Ladyman MP, would have some empathy with the thousands of his constituents, whose personal prosperity depends on the ability to travel and if he connected with the local people he might realise that we're not all millionaires.