Will Heidi Alexander continue John Prescott's transportation legacy?

The death of former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has naturally led to many tributes from across the political spectrum, and rightly so.

At his peak he was a leading figure in the Labor Party and, without his support, it is unlikely that Tony Blair would have been able to push through New Labour's reforms, particularly the repeal of clause four, which rocketed to number 10 in 2017. this landslide victory in the 1997 general election.

In this sense, Mr Prescott was as much the architect of New Labor as Mr Blair or Lord Mandelson. And of course, he was the one who kept the peace between Mr Blair and Gordon Brown when their relationship began to deteriorate.

Transportation Legacy

The Labor Party owes a lot to Mr Prescott. But his legacy as transport minister is arguably less impressive.

His commitment was beyond doubt, particularly in trying to ensure a real modal shift towards public transport, and he defended regional development long before Boris Johnson launched his upgrade programme.

Its first major white paper on transport, A new deal for transport: better for everyonewas very ambitious, as was its white paper on buses, From workhorse to thoroughbred: a better role for bus travel. However, it would be difficult to say that he fulfilled this aspiration.

Additionally, Labor Party members who hoped Mr Prescott would move quickly to re-regulate bus services were left somewhat disappointed.

He was arguably better suited to negotiating old-fashioned backroom political deals than running a front-line ministry.

Indeed, it is ironic that, under pressure from the Treasury, he oversaw the establishment of the public-private partnership for the London Underground, which saw the private sector take over network investment programmes, but this proved a costly failure.

His mega Ministry of the Environment, Transport and Regions, created after the 1997 elections, proved too cumbersome and was eventually dismantled.

Mr. Prescott was undoubtedly an important figure in his party. His commitment and passion were never in doubt. But he was arguably more suited to political manipulation, to old-fashioned behind-the-scenes political negotiation, than to running a front-line ministry.

Ministerial resignation

Meanwhile, after just five months, we experienced the resignation of our Prime Minister, with Transport Secretary Louise Haigh forced to resign due to a previous criminal offence. This raises a number of questions.

What struck me was how insignificant this offense was, committed before she was even an MP. In my view this was not a matter of resignation, especially as she had declared the offense and Keir Starmer was fully aware of it before appointing her.

We were informed that new information had come to light, but we were not informed what it was.

It is also striking that Number 10 made no effort to defend Ms Haigh, instead telling her that she had no choice but to resign as soon as Number 10 learned that the media knew about the 'history.

It was also claimed that Labor leaked news of the offense to the Conservatives before the election in the hope that the Conservatives would in turn tell the press, thus giving the Prime Minister an excuse not to appoint her to the cabinet .

I'm sorry about Ms. Haigh. I don't think the crime is that serious, and she wasn't even an MP when it happened. Should we really expect our politicians to be so impeccable that they must have absolutely no blemishes on their record?

While the chancellor is accused of lying on her CV and remains in office, a historic minor criminal offense is deadly. Or maybe there really was something more serious behind it, maybe you never know.

Either way, I suspect the truth is that Mr Starmer did not want Ms Haigh in his cabinet. After all, she nominated Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 Labor leadership race, so there was clearly no love lost between the two. We can only assume that he was looking for the first opportunity to get rid of her.

What's in store?

Nevertheless, in Heidi Alexander, we have a Transport Secretary who understands her mandate to some extent, having served as Deputy Mayor of London responsible for transport from 2018 to 2021.

Additionally, she is a fairly experienced politician, having served on Lewisham Council from 2004 until 2010, when she was elected as MP for Lewisham East in the 2010 general election.

But watch out for motorists! She was a strong supporter of the London Ultra Low Emissions Zone and its subsequent extension, and was also a supporter of the introduction of 20 mph zones across London. I wonder if it will encourage other major cities to follow suit.

Ms Alexander's exposure to the bus industry will of course be through the prism of the regulated London model.

I also wonder what she will think of the public consultation on an integrated transport policy that Ms Haigh published the day before she resigned.

This is an absurd consultation that literally encourages everyone, including individuals, to contribute. This is more of a questionnaire than a real consultation. God only knows what kind of crazy ideas might be sent to the ministry, although I highly doubt anyone outside of the transportation sector would be aware of them.

Ms Alexander's exposure to the bus industry will of course be through the prism of the regulated London model.

This could have a strong influence on her as she pushes forward the Government's bus reforms, although, given Ms Haigh was committed to the regulated model anyway, there will be no change or relaxation in the government bus policy.

However, I have a feeling it will be much more realistic about what a franchise model can offer, and I suspect it will also be more realistic about the number of authorities across the country that want to borrow this way.