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The moving finger writes – yet again
Jeremy Paxman once described his approach to political interviews along the lines of ‘what is this lying bastard trying to lie about this time'. This column is more concerned about Stalinist attempts to tear pages out of the Great Railway Encyclopedia when the facts recorded no longer match the current official line.
And in the House of Commons on 19 July there was a masterclass in creative historical rewriting from Transport Secretary Alistair Darling. Making a statement on freight he said:
‘The Ten Year Plan for Transport, published in 2000, forecast potential growth in rail freight of up to 80% to 2010. This was interpreted by many as a target, though we had always made it clear that actual growth would depend on a number of factors – in particular, the success of rail freight operators in winning business in highly competitive markets'. Mr Darling added ‘although it is now recognised that the 80% forecast is unlikely to be met, growth in the rail freight market has been impressive'.
Well, I was one of the ‘many' who interpreted the 80% as a ‘target', even though I couldn't see how the Government could make it happen, since private rail freight companies were dealing with private customers. But what made me think it was a ‘target'?
Was it Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott telling Parliament on 20 July 2000 ‘We will deliver…… 50% more passengers and 80% more freight'?
Was it the 10 Year Transport Plan itself which under the heading ‘Outcomes and targets' said, ‘The outcomes we expect to be achieved over the period of this Plan include…an additional 15 billion tonne-km of Railfreight'? That additional 15 billion was about 80% above then current carryings
Or was it the DETR's helpful ‘Fact sheet' in the press pack we were given on 20 july 200 which said ‘Targets for 2010 include Increasing rail's share of the freight market from 7% to 10% by 2010 – an 80% increase'?
Now, in a healthy democracy Mr Darling would be hammered by the opposition over such weaseling. Sadly, both opposition spokesman match the depth/length ratio of two timber laminae when it comes to railways.
In an attempt to get railways onto the hustings before the last election, I sent my analysis of Sea Containers' winning bid for the InterCity East Coast franchise (Informed Sources June 2005) to the then Lib Dem Transport spokesman John Thurso . Since the article was described as ‘scurrilous' by a high up at SRA I had some hopes of political mischief.
A letter came back from a researcher saying, ‘ Thanks for bringing this to our attention, it is certainly something we would like to look into. This close to the general election it would be unlikely that we could achieve anything in Parliament by way of debates or Parliamentary Questions as time is so restricted, I was wondering if you had any specific ideas of what you think John should do'.
And it's not just the Lib-Dems. If Thurso was hapless, Tory Transport Spokesman Alan Duncan is hopeless.
My journalist chum Chris Randall reports this stream of unconsciousness reply from Mr Duncan when asked about HST2.
‘Haven't a clue, blinding me with science. Do you expect a politician to know the answers to all these detailed things, on the hoof, on a Friday morning at five minutes' notice? Why isn't it the train operators' decision? They run the railways, not the government. So, in a way, it's damn all to do with government. It's to do with an operating company's decision about how they invest in rolling stock, isn't it? Or am I missing something?'
While the final answer was probably rhetorical, it sounds like the basis of a Blood & Custard competition.
With apologies to Private Eye's Number Crunching feature
Total subsidy paid to the railways while Dr Mike Mitchell was working for British Rail (1970-1986) £24. 218billion (2005 prices) With Dr Mitchell now Director General DfT rail;, Support needed by the railways between now and the end of the current regulatory control period in March 2009 £24.231 billion (2005 prices) |
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