Anne McIntosh

Conservative Party | Vale of York

Sailing into trouble

This article was published in The Parliamentary Monitor.

From shipping to aviation, roads and rail, the government's transport policy is in crisis

The year 2002-2003 will be judged as another year in which the Labour government failed to deliver on transport, despite the emergence of the newly constituted Department for Transport. Many of the major targets of the 10-Year Plan for Transport were abandoned in the wake of fierce criticism from the Transport Select Committee, the Commission for Integrated Transport and the Social Exclusion Unit.

Earlier in 2002 Stephen Byers – who had presided over the bleakest period in the recent history of the railways, which culminated in the forcing of Railtrack into administration – resigned. The placing of Railtrack in receivership cost the tax payer £70 million in adviser fees and bonuses and a further £21 billion in the financing of the establishment of Network Rail in its first year.

At the outset of the new parliamentary year in Autumn 2002, a smoother phase ensued with the present Secretary of State, Alistair Darling, at the helm, albeit now on a part time basis as he has recently also been appointed Secretary of State for Scotland. However, even under his stewardship, the department is struggling. It is estimated that Network Rail will spend £27.8 Billion by April 2006, which would be an enormous £12 Billion over budget. The Strategic Rail Authority, in the face of massive maintenance costs, has also abandoned plans announced by the government three years ago to expand rail travel by 50 per cent by 2010. The SRA has also claimed that only in 2010 will the levels of performance and reliability be improved to attain those of 2001.This must be a source of embarrassment to the government which has failed to deliver on its targets in all of the public service sectors.

The government's record on roads over the past year has also been unsatisfactory. The government's recent announcement that the road network will be expanded in response to the latest multi-modal studies is welcome – but long overdue. The government failed to issue dates for the start or completion for any of the road improvements. Indeed this government has the worst road-building record of any post war adminstration.

In the course of the parliamentary year it emerged that the 2002 figure for revenues raised through taxation on drivers exceeded £45 billion. This already massive burden on motorists demonstrates that if the government presses ahead with road-pricing schemes it would be badly misconceived. Motorists and freight operators are being asked to foot the cost of high-tech tracking devices through stealth taxes when they are already paying large amounts to use Britain's congested roads. Motorists would be charged 50p per mile for using roads under these schemes. The government also failed to implement the Conservative Party's suggestion to undertake a review of speed limits on motorways and other roads.

The government has promised to introduce a Brit Disc for all lorries using UK roads over the next four years, while also lowering fuel duties, and has published a discussion paper on road-pricing for other motorists, effectively pushing the proposed charging mechanism out to the long grass.

The government's approach to aviation is equally lamentable. The pressure continues to grow on the main airports in the South East of England and the regional airports are seeking a coherent long-term development plan. Curiously the government set a 30-year timescale for airport capacity in its recent consultation – yet a 10 year plan for road and rail targets. It has yet to address surface access to airports, by both road and rail. Despite costing some £4.2 million, the airports consultation was based on questionable assumptions and failed to include Gatwick in the exercise – an omission which was successfully reversed in court.

This consultation closed in June with the government promising a white paper this autumn. Homeowners living near potential sites of expansion, as well as the companies likely to be directly involved in such expansion, are desperate for the government to make a decision soon, at least on where the first new runway will be built. This uncertainty is compounded by the time required to improve road and rail access to any airport selected for development.

The government has also in the past year been equally reluctant to address the important challenges facing shipping. There are worrying skills shortages and real problems in attracting and retaining ships yet the government's maritime policy has been contained to simply introducing European legislation at a national level.

Following the Tricolor and Prestige accidents, safety at sea has been a hot topic in shipping this past year. Yet the government's response has been at best one of inaction and at worst that of knee-jerk reactions. Skills shortages and the problems of ships flagging out continue and, while the tonnage tax and linked training programme has made a difference, more needs to be done.

The government's inability to control the spiralling costs of the railway network, and its failure to take responsibility for the deterioration of the UK's public transport infrastructure since 1997, make transport policy a priority for the Conservative Party. Conservatives are determined to ensure that the people of this country receive a fair deal for transport. We must convince them that the Conservative Party, with Tim Collins as secretary of state, would be best placed to deliver on transport. People want a fair deal for motorists, for aviation and shipping and, above all, a fair deal for rail passengers and freight carriers. The people of this country deserve better.