Could there be a stronger signal that Andy Burnham has run out of ideas and isn’t any different from Keir Starmer than the pathetic announcement that passengers have been “reminded of rules” about noise and antisocial behaviour on public transport?
The actual news is that:
Today, guidance was issued for local authorities to support their new powers to crackdown on loud music, littering, vaping and threatening behaviour on buses – including being able to issue fixed penalties of up to £100 for those who cause trouble.
And there’s a big PR campaign for rail.
But let’s look at the claim that:
The powers for authorities on bus enforcement were made possible by the Bus Services Act 2025, meaning all local transport authorities across England are able to set and enforce their own local rules.
You only have to read a few paragraphs further to find out that transport authorities across England are not able to set and enforce their own local rules:
The legal power for all local transport authorities in England to crack down on nuisance behaviour on buses came into force on 5 August 2026. Today’s guidance will help them put these new local rules into practice, with each byelaw needing sign-off from the Secretary of State before it can be enforced.
It’s part of Burnham’s agenda to devolve powers to the local level and where the power remains centralised, it seems the approach is to lie.
The other part of Burnham’s agenda is to overstate the significance of a limited amount of nationalisation and the announcement tries rather too hard to pretend that what is happening on the railways – where enforcement powers have been around for years – is something to do with the consolidation of train operating companies under government control:
The rail campaign will end the patchwork of current campaigns across different rail operators, helping create a clear, consistent message across the network. Most operators will feature messaging across websites, social media, in carriages and at stations, and will include posters and announcements. The campaign demonstrates how, under public ownership, train operators can push for a more joined-up operation to focus in on passenger experience to effectively tackle antisocial behaviour.
Did you say “most operators”?
A quote attributed to transport secretary Heidi Alexander carries the lie and the contradiction in a single sentence:
… we’re empowering local leaders to shape bus services around the needs of their communities and taking advantage of publicly owned train operating companies
So, not only are you not empowering local leaders, but you will still have a patchwork of rules on buses and on rail.
Why all the noise?
Leave a Reply