The prospects of a change in government are stronger than they looked a year ago. Whoever is in charge, CPT will be pushing for the sector’s needs
Less than two years from the next General Election, Labour remains well ahead in the polls.
While I gave up trying to predict British politics on 24 June 2016, the prospects of a change in government are clearly much stronger than they looked a year ago.
That’s why the announcement last week of the latest stage in Labour’s manifesto development is so important to us and our members.
The National Policy Forum is an opportunity for us to feed into the party’s six policy commissions with our view of how coaches and buses can play their full part in supporting the drive for green growth, which is likely to be central to the manifesto.
We’ll be responding on some familiar policy points.
The public services policy commission talks, for example, about the need for greater local control over services.
We’ll be responding with a realistic assessment of what regulatory reform might deliver, but also highlighting the things that it can’t, by itself, deliver. We’ll also be looking at whether, and how, the commission on the UK’s future proposal of a minimum bus service level for communities across the country could be effectively delivered.
And, working with members, we’ll be looking for unintended consequences of broader policies which might impact our sector, such as assessing the potential impact of removing VAT exemption on home-to-school travel for coach operators.
All of this sits alongside our ongoing engagement with Members of Parliament and others.
Attendees at our annual conference in Birmingham next month will have the opportunity to hear for themselves what Shadow Minister (Transport), Simon Lightwood, has to say about Labour’s plans for our sector.
Whatever the state of the opinion polls, we’ll be working with all parties over the coming two years to ensure that the needs of our sector and its passengers are fully reflected in manifestos.
Any government will need us to deliver on decarbonisation, growth and levelling up.
We need to show we’re ready to work with it.
