Westminster

In Westminster this week, we saw the delivery of the Government response to the Williams Rail Review, the most comprehensive review of the British rail networks since privatisation. The report “Great British Railways: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail” proposes the simplification of the rail network under one organisation “Great British Railways” to run all rail infrastructure and services, replacing the previous franchise system with contracts.

Keen politics watchers will know that whenever governments promise ‘simplification’ and ‘streamlining’ we’re in for a fun time. The report is only an overview so far, and as it admits in its final paragraphs “consultations and legislation…will create opportunities to develop understanding of how to implement these commitments most effectively and efficiently across the network”. Sounds like we could be in for an interesting time as the Government tries to work out exactly what ‘streamlining’ and ‘simplification’ is possible, desirable, and could actually work.

The proposals have already caused concerns, with Labour criticising the lack of detail and substance, and the Unions claiming that the plans are merely “papering over the cracks”. We keenly await more independent judgments from transport experts, and look forward to delivering our own conclusions on the inevitable barrage of consultations that will follow.

Changes to major infrastructure are always controversial, and the railways have particularly suffered when it comes to major reorientations. From privatisation under John Major, all the way back to Dr Beeching’s swingeing cuts in the sixties (which to my romantic, steam-loving mind produced only one good thing: Flanders and Swann’s song “Slow Train”, one of the most achingly beautiful elegiac songs ever written), scraps over the rail network are as old as a British Rail sandwich.

Hopefully, we’ll start to see the steady drip feed of consultations on the report soon- for now, we’ll have a more detailed look through it and see what we can glean.

“No more will we go to Blandford Forum and Mortehoe; On the slow train from Midsomer Norton and Mumby Road; No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat; At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street; We won’t be meeting again; On the Slow Train”

Scotland

From Scotland this week, I’m actually turning back the clock to last week, and something that only came in after we were past deadline for last week’s article. Many of you might have seen spread across social media and the news the civil action that temporarily prevented the removal of a Muslim immigrant from his home in Glasgow on immigration rules grounds. The removal drew particular attention because it took place on Eid al-Fitr, the major Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

Following the protest, the First Minister of Scotland (along with representatives of the Welsh Government) heavily criticised the Home Office’s consultation on immigration reform (which we wrote about here and here). The consultation, which we noted as being somewhat deficient for several reasons, ran for a short six week period during which fell the Scottish and Welsh elections. As immigration is not a devolved issue, and because of the restrictions on political activity during election campaigns, this denied the Scottish and Welsh Governments the opportunity of properly responding to it. Attempts to reach out to the Home Office apparently fell on deaf ears.

It’s a very peculiar situation. Whilst we don’t like to impute negative motives unnecessarily, it seems unlikely that this timing situation was something that merely slipped the mind of the Home Office. So why was this consultation scheduled at this point? There is no particular need (except arguably politically) for the consultation to be rushed through, so why deny them the opportunity to comment? It hardly seems conducive to the sort of unionism the Government is claiming to pursue. We may never know the answer, though if there are any disgruntled folks in the know, our inboxes are always open…

Northern Ireland

Alcohol consumption, and efforts to tackle alcohol consumption, seem to be somewhat ‘in vogue’ at the moment across the UK, with the UK Government consulting on various measures in order to encourage more responsible attitudes to drinking. One of the other areas where we are seeing more attention (and hopefully will see even more) is in health inequalities. The two issues came together this week in Northern Ireland when members highlighted the links between deprived communities and increased rates of alcohol-specific mortality.

The Minister responded, highlighting that the Department is currently examining whether a minimum unit pricing strategy might be useful in Northern Ireland to tackle excessive drinking. Although he acknowledged that they are still in the initial phases of considerations, he did anticipate that there may be a consultation on this at the end of the year. It could be an interesting one to watch, and there might be lessons to be learned about the different approaches being taken across the administrations. We’ll keep an eye on it.

Have you booked for tCI Connect 2021 yet? A free digital conference taking place next Wednesday 26^th May, bringing together the leading experts in public consultation and engagement from across the country. Find more info and register here.