Paul Rowen MP’s Transport Matters Column
Added 07/08/2009Next month sees the start of party conference season. Whilst my own party head back to Bournmouth, Labour travel to Brighton and the Conservatives camp nearby in Manchester. One of the main issues of Conference season will of course be re-building trust in politicians and political parties. This year though, it is crucial to keep transport at the top of the agenda within our political parties.
In my last column, I spoke of cuts already raging in the Government’s transport budget. I spoke of the need for honesty over public investment and that includes public transport. We shall be using the Conference Season to drum the need for transport spending to remain a priority. This year, there will be 3 main fringe events at each conference. This is an important opportunity for leading transport politicians to debate some of the key issues and swap best practice with leading members of the industry and members of transport authorities across the country.
One of the unfortunate problems with incessant reshuffles is that the politicians at the top have little time to get a handle of their brief – Conference Season is an opportunity to bring them up to speed. Since Alastair Darling left in May 2006, there have been 4 changes as Secretary of State for Transport. Douglas Alexander (5 May 2006 - 27 June 2007), Ruth Kelly (28 June 2007 - 3 October 2008), Geoff Hoon (3 October 2008 - 5 June 2009) and now Lord Adonis. There is no continuity in the Department of Transport and like a football team who constantly change their managers – all stability and long term planning goes out of the window. I also have concerns that Andrew Adonis is not an MP and thus unaccountable at a Constituency level for his decisions. I have no doubt that Lord Adonis will work to the best of his ability but does the appointment of a non-MP signal that transport is slipping down the Government’s agenda?
Back to the Conferences though and our guest speakers at the various fringe events come right from the ‘current’ top table of transport politicians. Our own Lib Dem Transport spokesman – Norman Baker MP will be busy at our conference attending all 3 main fringes. He will also be presenting a key conference motion on the inequalities in rail provision and fares. His Conservative equivalent Phillip Hammond MP will be busy in Manchester. Sadiq Khan, Minister of State for Transport will also be playing a key role at the Labour Conferences.
The All-Party Group on Light Rail that I chair has a busy conference season and we will be building on our successful visit to Kassell, Germany to debate the future of Tram / Trains. The Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority is joining forces with Network Rail to debate “The future of rail in the north – our vision for travel and the economy”. As usual the Passenger Transport Executive (PTEG) have a busy Conference schedule asking what the 3 main political parties can offer to improve public transport in our cities – Should be an interesting debate!
I hope that all debates are constructive and give transport the springboard it needs in all 3 political parties to remain a priority. I will be publishing details of the all transport meetings at the 3 party conferences on my website – www.paulrowen.co.uk