**** You may know about the media speculation that the Government intends to include the British Waterways property portfolio as a component of the £16bn asset sale.
The Government has made no announcements and is steadfastly refusing to be drawn on the subject. We have been using this period of silence as a window of opportunity to lobby Ministers. We have orchestrated a political lobby in both the Commons and latterly the Lords to pressurise government, and briefed radio and national TV, using an array of reasons to support the argument that a sale would be in no-one’s interest. We stand the best chance of preventing this sale if the government can be persuaded not to do this during this period of Ministerial silence. Whilst no announcements have been made, it is easy for government to back away as it involves no public reversal of policy. However, an e-petition has appeared on the 10 Downing Street website; *http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/protectourcanals/* * * IWA supports the statements in the petition. The worst outcome now that this is in the public domain, would be if this petition receives scant support. That might give Ministers the impression that there are few waterways supporters who care very much about the issue. On the other hand, if it well supported, the Government, this close to an election, is very sensitive to actions it might take which lose votes and would probably take notice . *I am therefore urging you to sign up to this petition -if you agree with it, and ask that you encourage everyone that you know, to also sign up. *** We need more signatures than the total number of boaters in the UK – So please ask all of your colleagues, friends and family and e-mailable contacts to help us today! – and ask them to pass this message on as well- we need all of the UK to know about this and to respond on line . *The future of the waterways could depend on your actions today – please act, and pass this message on. * * * Thank you Paul ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
