The new transport secretary, Louise Haigh, has told civil servants that Labour will “move fast and fix things”, prioritising rail reform and keeping an environmental focus throughout.
Labour’s first moves are expected to include a rail reform bill that will also pave the way for the full renationalisation of train operations, with legislation announced in the king’s speech next week.
Haigh said transport would be critical for the government’s declared missions. Speaking to officials in the Department for Transport, she said: “Growth, net zero, opportunity, women and girls’ safety, health – none of these can be realised without transport as a key enabler.”
She said that there was a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the way our country runs, for the better”, adding that “the critical thread weaving through every priority should be greening our transport networks”.
Here are some of the big issues Labour needs to tackle in transport:
Reforming rail
Haigh’s motto may have particular resonance for the railway, where the glaring need for reform has been widely agreed since an industry review was first launched in 2018. The broad solution – a new arms-length body unifying track and train operations – is also a matter of consensus. Labour will want to take forward its own version of Great British Railways, “after years of ministerial indecision”, as Haigh put it, as soon as it can.
The appointment of Network Rail chairman, Lord Hendy, as transport minister will underscore that priority, although it will do little to allay the fears of those who perceive GBR as a Network Rail takeover.
Although the ambition to achieve a fully publicly owned railway is scheduled to be completed only when train operator contracts expire, Haigh has said she would hasten that process where poor performances breach contracts. New Labour MPs have already highlighted their own disrupted Avanti journeys from northern seats to Westminster this week.
Improving rail infrastructure – without mentioning HS2
Haigh said Britain “desperately needs new infrastructure to better connect underserved parts of the country”, not least the north, with the transport secretary both born and a constituency MP in Sheffield.
Labour was never going to fall into the trap of simply backing the expensive reinstatement of Britain’s biggest infrastructure project, HS2, when its northern leg was controversially axed last year by Rishi Sunak.
But given pressure from Labour northern mayors – and the headaches over capacity where the remaining HS2 high-speed railway hits the West Coast main line – there will be renewed drive to find some kind of equivalent link, as well as building new lines across the north.
Resolving the strikes
The kind of strikes that seemed unthinkable since rail privatisation have become a mundane misery over the last two years. The train drivers’ union Aslef is still officially in dispute. While past ministers may have seen some political capital in holding out, both sides will be more receptive to a settlement now. Labour’s wider promised “new deal for workers” is a far cry from the minimum service levels that Conservatives wished to impose on striking rail staff and should change the industrial climate, with employers likely to have more leeway to negotiate.
A pay offer near the 8% offered and swiftly rejected in early 2023 could prove acceptable if it does not demand working practice reform on top. Sticking points such as mandatory Sunday shifts may appear less of an issue should better industrial relations lead to more drivers working overtime again.
Accelerating better buses
The ball has already started rolling in overturning the Thatcher-era deregulation of buses, but metro mayors such as Manchester’s Andy Burnham had to tread a long and winding road to reclaim public control of services. Haigh stressed to officials: “I mean it when I say that buses are the lifeblood of our communities, and they’ve too often let people down all over the country.”
While both parties had pledged better buses – a cheaper and quicker way to improve transport connections than building rail – Labour is set to devolve more powers to make local franchising an easier and quicker option.
