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Jack Straw is tipped for Transport

3rd May 2001, Page 8
3rd May 2001
Page 8
Page 8, 3rd May 2001 — Jack Straw is tipped for Transport
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■ by Sally Nash Parliamentary sources suggest that the man international hauliers love to hate—Home Secretary Jack Straw—could become Secretary of State at the Department of Transport in the next reshuffle, while Transport Minister Gus Macdonald may switch to the Department of Trade and Industry.

Insiders suggest such a move would please Macdonald who is keen to leave transport, mainly as a result of the current in-fighting over issues like the rail regulator.

During his two years in transport Macdonald has won recogni

tion from both industry and government colleagues for his performance. The FTA praised Macdonald this week for his "understanding and sympathy" to the needs of industry and its problems.

"We have been pleased to work with him even though he has not given the freight industry everything it has asked for," says a spokesman.

Speculation is also growing that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott will be moved from transport to head up the Cabinet Office when Mo Mowlam steps down.

Prospective candidates for Prescott's transport crown include Home Secretary Jack Straw, while Patricia Hewitt—currently Trade Minister—is being tipped to step into Macdonald's shoes.

Shadow Transport Minister Bernard Jenkin says it is time that Prescott was shunted off. "You have just got to look at our record on motorways where we have the worst traffic jams in Europe coupled with the highest fuel tax," he says. "The government's 10-year transport plan has failed to deliver."

In the past the trade associations have hit out at the fast turnaround of transport ministers. In 1999, when Macdonald was appointed, the FTA pointed out that no fewer than 24 incumbents had held the job since 1959.


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