COMMENT
Page 5
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NEW LABOUR NEW BROOM?
It's too late to worry about it now. We've done it. The question is, will New Labour be any better at running the Department of Transport than the Tories? That's assuming there'll still be a Department of Transport by this time next year. The news that Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is to be in overall charge of both Transport and the Environment confirms the rumour of a merger between the two departments, to form a new "Super Ministry". This will be disaster for the DOT and even worse for road haulage. Meanwhile there's a new Transport Minister in the Cabinet—Gavin Strang (see page 4). What will he do? According to the broadsheet pundits he'll have to launch an early review of the roads programme, and maybe even bring forward some projects; specifically schemes in the North and East Anglia. Whatever else he does he'll have to grasp the nettle on 44 tonnes for general haulage; a nettle left studiously untouched by Sir George Young (Sir George who? Oh come now, you can't have forgotten...). Never mind that New Labour's manifesto insisted that it remains "unpersuaded by the case for heavier, 44-tonne lorries..." The UK road transport industry needs some definitive answers—not least on whether the new Government intends to put the DOT's best-ever shot for higher maximum weights back in the
drawer for ever. The industry mustn't be fobbed off with suggestions that the matter has been settled. The DOT may have decided to extend
44 tonnes to piggyback operations but it's done sweet FA when it comes to
declaring its future intentions
on the adoption of 44 tonnes for general haulage. And it
can't get away with it any longer. The election is history. CM's message to the new
minister is simple: Get a grip Gavin--and make a decision on 44-tonnes!