Buses Minister misses the chance to ‘debunk old myths’ at the recent transport oral questions
In an act of supreme political masochism, and as if over two years of debate about Brexit since the referendum in 2016 wasn’t enough, the government has decided to give parliament a solid five days to debate the merits or otherwise of the EU Withdrawal Agreement – a debate that will start as this edition of routeone appears.
Fear not. Despite my own fascination with the consequences of the parliamentary vote on this agreement, I’ll spare you all any further commentary on the issues – I’ll take a vow of silence on Brexit worthy of a Trappist monk.
Missed opportunity
So, onto transport oral questions on 22 November.
Two questions from Labour MPs gave the Buses Minister, Nustrat Ghani, a great opportunity to debunk the same old myths that opponents of deregulation continue to peddle.
When the Labour MP for Manchester Gorton, Afzal Khan, said that “evidence shows that regulating buses improves services.” why did the minister not ask to see this evidence? It simply does not exist, simply because buses outside London aren’t regulated, and in the regulated London market bus patronage is now in decline.
A shame that the minister did not lay punch after punch on this false claim by Afzal Khan.
And then the Labour MP for Sheffield Central, Paul Blomfield, said that “throughout the country we have seen a 12-year low in the number of bus journeys; the spiral of decline started with Tory deregulation in the 1980s.”
No Mr Blomfield, bus patronage has been in steady decline since the 1950s, and you can actually show that the rate of decline was faster in the years of regulation before 1986 than it has been since.
Sadly, Ms Ghani failed to nail this point too – yet it is a point that should roll off her tongue without a moments pause.
‘The bear pit’
It’s all too easy for armchair commentators like me to criticise ministers’ performances at the despatch box. In the bear pit that is the House of Commons ministers are under pressure and often have to think quickly on their feet.
But at this transport orals session the Commons was not far off empty, and the atmosphere was pretty subdued. And of course, ministers have folders full of briefing notes and lines to take. This was hardly a pressurised Commons session, yet Ms Ghani failed to make two points which are central to the whole debate about deregulation.
On 26 November, we had another session of the Transport Select Committee on its buses inquiry, with evidence from the RMT, bus operators and the Confederation of Passenger Transport.
I haven’t watched the recording, partly because the session went on for nearly three hours – a marathon session to say the least – and partly because, as with previous sessions, I’m sure it won’t tell me anything new. If I did, it might encourage me to renew my interest in the marathon Brexit debate and break my vow of silence.
