Policy falls
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GOVERNMENT transport policy is still falling short of the Labour Party's 1974 election manifesto, says the party's latest policy review document published this week.
Transport Minister William Rodgers is given credit for making sure that there will be no further cuts in the railways, but he is attacked for not doing anything to ensure the transfer of freight from road to rail.
In obvious references to left wing policy on public ownership of transport, Mr Rodgers is commended for continuing the commitment to increase public ownership of haulage and more road safety legislation. But he is also slammed for failing to live up to election pledges on the development of public transport at the expense of the private car and his failure to create a truly integrated transport policy.
On concessionary fares, Mr Rodgers has been told by the Party that the allocation of an extra £25m by the end of the decade is "inadequate" and "less than we would have hoped possible".
The Labour Party's transport specialists regard the White Paper that led to the Transport Bill as being a great improvement on the Consultative Document "but overall it falls short of the promises made in the manifesto."