Reid's promotion
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• by David Cra John Reid, the Transport Minister with whom the road haulage industry has been working to gain concessions on fuel duty rates, has been promoted to Secretary of State for Scotland.
The switch comes only days after he told the Road Haulage Association's annual dinner that he "understood hauliers' anger" and offered to meet them on their own premises to hear their concerns about fuel rates.
Reid's replacement is Airdrie and Shotts MP Helen Liddell. She is a former Treasury Minister, and more recently was deputy Scottish Secretary of State.
Bridge says the next Road Haulage Industry Forum must be held urgently, so that Liddell, who has never held a transport brief, can hear the industry's worries.
"We can't afford delays," he says. "We have no time for this kind of Government reshuffling."
But Trans-Action's Frank Steers fears delays are inevitable. "This is typical party politics," he says. "Replace someone just beginning to know the industry with someone who probably knows nothing but will come on as the expert of all experts."
In what turned out to be Reid's last speech to the industry last week, he said he would not meet anyone who 'put a gun to his head through demonstrations". Reid was greeted with respectful applause by his RHA audience, despite rumours that he would receive a heated reception. But as his speech continued there was growing heckling in response to his remarks about the effectiveness of the forum.