Perhaps a couple of independent candidates might force the Humber Bridge debt into the national arena

 Saturday saw another demonstration by the local campaign to axe the debt on the Humber Bridge and lower the tolls. This follows the one which took place in September.I thought it interesting to make a comparison on last week’s announcement that the Government is to support London’s Crossrail project. Even allowing for the fact that the Government will finance only one-third of the Crossrail project, this still amounts to about £5 billion. The sum required to scrap the debt on the Humber Bridge meanwhile is about £350 million; a comparatively small amount.

The part financing of Crossrail is added to a long list of public and privately funded projects in London and the south-east planned to help economic and social regeneration; the 2012 Olympics being the largest of these. If there is one project that would help such regeneration in this sub-region it is scrapping the debt on the Humber Bridge and bringing the tolls down to a sensible level.

So the case is made, but what happens next? Well it seems we have cross-party support; consumers and industry, including the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce are behind the campaign. And there is a very dedicated band of activists. It occurred to me over the weekend that until Government takes up the issue it is doomed to remain on the fringes. One way around that would be to put up candidates in a couple of marginal seats in the sub-region. One obvious seat would be Brigg and Goole in the South Bank of the Humber Estuary where the Labour MP, Ian Cawsey has a majority of just over 3000 and where the Tories are fighting hard. The MP and his Tory opponent are supporters of the campaign, but maybe, with the threat of an independent standing on a scrap the tolls ticket, their respective parties might be willing to take this up as a manifesto promise.