Transport Insights

As has been pointed out, Labour is now privatising roads while nationalising (parts of) the rail network and the King’s Speech yesterday made this clear.

“Legislation will be introduced to… enable roads to be built at pace, including the Lower Thames Crossing;”

The Highways (Financing) Bill will enable a new financing approach to fund large-scale road schemes, supporting the Government’s commitment to deliver a modern transport network that helps people get to where they need to more easily and safely. The Bill enables the delivery of schemes through private investment, reducing the financial burden on taxpayers while ensuring strong regulatory oversight to protect the interests of users.

This is a necessary step to the unnecessary plan to build the Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) under the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model, “to unlock greater levels of private capital investment in road infrastructure”.

But we should not forget that the entity that will finance and then own the LTC will also be given the existing Dartford Crossings forever. A publicly-owned asset that is providing an income stream to the government will be handed over to a private entity. That’s privatisation.

“My Government will improve critical infrastructure with legislation to… establish Great British Railways”

a new publicly owned company that will be at the core of the reformed rail industry. GBR will unite track and train under a single body for the first time in a generation. GBR will be unambiguously accountable for making the railway work for passengers, customers, and taxpayers. Whether reuniting family and friends, transporting critical goods across the country, or connecting Britain’s business, GBR will ensure that the railways deliver for all those that rely on it.

We should not forget that GBR was basically Grant Shapps’ idea (the Shapps/Williams plan) and that what Labour is changing is the ownership of the operators, but not the trains, and not the infrastructure, which is already owned by Network Rail.

Along the way, the government’s briefing document on the King’s Speech tells a big porkie about subsidising rail:

Overall levels of government support for operational costs remain nearly £4 billion higher than pre-pandemic.

If you allow for inflation, it’s more like £1-2bn higher annually. Maybe the government is once again adding four years of spending together to make it look bigger?

Meanwhile:

Legislation will be introduced to…deliver a fair deal for the North of England through Northern Powerhouse Rail

The Bill (formally titled the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill) will outline the proposed route from Manchester to Millington, via Manchester Airport, and will provide the necessary powers to take forward delivery when the design has been completed. By adapting the High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester) Bill, the Government is making use of the significant progress already made.

That’s probably quite clever, although I don’t entirely understand it.