Are public transport campaigners right to target Philip Hammond personally over rail fares and his known love of cars?
The Campaign for Better Transport has this week been promoting its latest rail fares campaign with repeated reference to the Transport Secretary’s Jaguar and car-friendly policies.
But how often does shaming a minister into action really work? Especially when, unfortunately, the vast majority of the country would back the Government’s decision to cut a penny off fuel rather than, say, hold down rail fares.
As long as strategic rail policy remains to shift the burden off the taxpayer and onto the passenger while expanding the network, passengers are going to continue to be hit with some pretty outrageous fare rises. Ultimately, this policy is dictated as much by the Treasury as the DfT, and even though Hammond used to work closely with George Osborne, even he cannot overhaul Government policy just like that – even if he wanted to.
