Finally it’s all over. The Bus Services Bill has Royal Assent and is an Act.
When Theresa May called the general election there was a moment when it was thought the Bill may not reach the statute book before parliament was dissolved. If so, the Bill would have fallen, although these days it’s possible to revive Bills in a new parliament and carry on from where it left off.
But that assumes the new government is prepared to revive the Bill in question, and I reckon there was the slimmest of chances that a re-elected Conservative government on 8 June (assuming that is the outcome) may have concluded that given all the Brexit legislation required in the new parliament, there was not sufficient motivation to revive the Buses Bill.
After all the blood, sweat and tears of the last 2.5 years since the new franchise approach was first sprung on an unsuspecting industry, that would almost have been too ironic for words.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) would have gone mental of course, but if Theresa May really does end up with a massive majority, would that really matter?
However, since all the signs are that she is keen to seriously pitch the Conservative tent on Labour’s northern heartland’s lawn, I have a hunch the Bill would have been revived anyway, if only because it simply had the final Lords Consideration of Commons Amendments stage to get through.
And, whatever the industry may think of franchising, this Bill is, as I’ve repeatedly said, pretty benign. I don’t believe that seeing the Bill fall, and therefore rekindling the whole debate about the right direction for bus policy, would have been in the industry’s interests.
But the industry now has a challenge. It’s simply this. Perform and behave in such a way that no authority sees the need or the benefit in proceeding down the franchise route.
And you know what? I have a hunch that, deep down, Andy Burnham (who is expected to elected as the Mayor for Manchester) isn’t really convinced of the merits of franchising anyway, whatever he may have said in public and in parliament.
He will see all too easily not only the financial risks of franchising, but the political risks too.
Today, he and others in the GMCA can point the finger at the private operators when things go wrong or when services are poor. With franchising, responsibility will rest firmly on the Mayor’s shoulders.
Wherever you stand on the franchising debate, it’s now done and dusted.
Well, not quite. We have all the regulations to be approved by parliament first, but that’s a formality.
In about a year’s time we could see regulated buses back on the streets of Manchester. I wonder if the passengers will either notice or care?
Westminster Watch returns after the General Election
