The wheels are coming off this government quite rapidly. Two ministerial resignations within a week has created a sense of a government in crisis.
How Priti Patel thought it was appropriate to have meetings with senior Israeli ministers – even the Israeli Prime Minister – without clearing this with No 10 and the Foreign Office first is beyond comprehension.
A bigger worry for Theresa May must be that her close ally and effective Deputy Prime Minister, Damien Green, is under investigation for improper behaviour. If he ends up having to resign too, then Theresa May’s position will be very precarious. It does feel as if her authority, such as it is, is being diminished by the day.
She must wake up each morning wondering what next crisis is going to engulf her. How she must regret that fateful decision in April to call a general election.
UK slumps in survey
Still, to more mundane matters. A Global Infrastructure Survey has been published by Ipsos MORI. It’s a survey of individuals’ opinions on the quality of their country’s infrastructure – motorways and local roads, railways, airports, housing stock, broadband, water supply, energy etc – what the priorities for investment should be, and their satisfaction with transport services.
The survey was in 27 countries around the world, with 21,043 interviews conducted. Eight countries are in the EU and it makes fascinating reading.
For overall satisfaction with the quality of all infrastructure, the UK was a poor 17th out of 27 although in was third out of the eight EU countries.
The fascinating thing for the UK is that despite all the noise made about the need for an additional runway in the south east, only 11% thought that airports should be a priority for investment. In fact it’s seen as the least important type of infrastructure in need of investment.
How long will this attitude prevail when people can no longer fly at the times they wish, from the airports they wish and to the places they wish? And, it’s curious that while only 28% of people in the UK rate the country’s housing supply as ‘very/fairly good’ it’s investment in rail infrastructure that is seen as the greatest priority – although housing comes a close second.
Take a bow
But the coach and bus industry can take a bow. When UK citizens were asked how satisfied they were with their experience of travelling by coach and bus, a respectable 71% said they were ‘very/fairly satisfied’ – the highest satisfaction rating for this mode of transport, first equal with the United States, and a better satisfaction rating than the car or overground rail, although worse than underground rail and air travel. Congratulations to the UK coach and bus industry.
