News: Politics
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Gates in Abu Dhabi to discuss pressure on Iran
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School report: Political interviews
Adonis unveils £30bn high-speed rail plans
Minister says building work on 250mph route cutting journey times between London and Birmingham could begin in 2017
The government today unveiled plans for a £30bn high-speed rail network, with the first phase between London and Birmingham opening in 2026.
Lord Adonis, the transport secretary, said building work on the 250mph route could begin in 2017 once a formal public consultation has been completed.
The route linking the capital and England's second city, which will cut journey times from 84 minutes to 49 minutes, will originate at London Euston and pass through Old Oak Common, in west London, where a Crossrail interchange will transport passengers to Heathrow airport.
Controversially, the line will then run through the Chiltern hills in Buckinghamshire, past picturesque villages such as Wendover, before arriving at an intermediate stop near Birmingham airport. There will be a new terminal in Birmingham city centre, and the main body of the line will sweep through the Trent valley to join existing tracks north of Lichfield, where journeys will continue to Manchester and Scotland at conventional speeds.
"The time has come for Britain to plan seriously for high-speed rail between our major cities," said Adonis. "The high-speed line from London to the Channel Tunnel has been a clear success, and many European and Asian countries now have extensive and successful high-speed networks. I believe high-speed rail has a big part to play in Britain's future."
In a nod to Tory objections over the Heathrow proposal, Adonis said the case for a station would be examined by the former Tory transport secretary Lord Mawhinney. "A complex decision of this nature should not be taken in a knee-jerk fashion but after a full analysis of the facts and opinions," Adonis said.
The first phase will cost up to £17.4bn for 128 miles of track from London to the west Midlands, with the full 330-mile network costing £30bn.
The transport secretary also unveiled the blueprint for a wider network, with a Y-shaped route splitting off from Birmingham to go eastwards to Manchester and westwards to Sheffield and Leeds. Journey times between London and Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield would come down from about two hours 10 minutes to 75 minutes when the new network is in place.
Formal planning for the route from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds will be completed next summer, with a consultation to follow in 2012. The route to Scotland would be completed on existing lines under the current proposal, even when the Manchester and Leeds sections are completed.
Despite the Mawhinney gesture, the Conservatives attacked the detailed proposal. The Tories have pledged to build a high-speed network instead of a third runway at Heathrow, and to start construction in 2015.
Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, said: "Labour have betrayed the vision we set out three years ago for [high-speed rail]. In leaving out Heathrow and setting out plans that give no firm guarantees north of the Midlands, Labour's plans are flawed both by lack of ambition and undermined by their inability to grasp the basic truth that high-speed rail should be an alternative to a third runway, not an addition to it."
The government-backed company that drew up the plans, HS2, believes there is no business case for a direct link to Heathrow airport and some industry experts argue that the Old Oak Common interchange provides an equally good link.
Ralph Smyth, of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, described elements of the plan as "a major concern" and called on the government to listen to local people.
"By using existing and disused transport corridors as well as tunnelling, the impact on the Chilterns is less than feared," he said. "But the impact on the Warwickshire, where the line is proposed to run through open countryside, is a major concern.
"There is a strong need for more than just fine-tuning. The firm commitment to community consultation made by Lord Adonis must be backed up by real engagement and flexibility. As with the Channel Tunnel rail link, local people's contribution can help turn a contentious route into something that works both national and locally."
Dan Milmoguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Gates: Iran support for Taliban 'pretty limited'
Tories pledge 'fastest broadband'
Married MPs broke expenses rules
Highway deaths drop to lowest levels since 1950s
Lawmaker's clash with fellow Democrats nothing new
Conservative technology manifesto
The Tory document in full
Manifesto in full
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Army chief sees ministerial ambitions snuffed out by wily Liam Fox | Nicholas Watt
Quietly, and with little fanfare, the shadow defence secretary has killed off ministerial ambitions of retired army chief
When you achieve victory – of the complete, earth-scorching variety – it is always best to avoid crowing. "In war: resolution; in defeat: defiance; in victory: magnanimity," is a handy bit of advice from Winston Churchill.
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, has clearly been thinking of Churchill after achieving a complete victory over the Tory leadership.
David Cameron had planned to appoint General Sir Richard Dannatt, the former chief of the general staff, as a minister in a Tory government. That is now toast after Lord Guthrie, the former chief of the defence staff, told the Today programme this morning that it was a "great mistake" for Dannatt to have accepted a post as adviser to the Tories.
Gurthrie's remarks are significant because he has been highly critical of Gordon Brown over defence spending and was withering about Labour MPs who condemned retired defence chiefs in the Commons yesterday as Tories.
Guthrie showed why it is unwise to cross this former SAS commander. This is what he had to say about the attacks from the Labour MPs:
I thought it was rather a desperate act and actually rather cheap. I don't think everybody is a Tory. I certainly am a crossbencher and am quite prepared to criticise anybody.
And this is what he said about the planned Dannatt appointment:
I think personally it was a great mistake. I really do. I do not think serving officers should criticise publicly.
Guthrie's remarks will be welcomed by Fox, who has fought a clever under-the-radar campaign to sideline Dannatt after Cameron went over the heads of his shadow defence team to line up the former army chief for a ministerial post.
This is what Cameron told the Tory conference in October:
When the country is at war, when Whitehall is at war, we need people who understand war in Whitehall. That's why I'm proud to announce today that someone who has fought for our country and served for 40 years in our armed forces will not only advise our defence team but will join our benches in the House of Lords and if we win the election could serve in a future Conservative government: General Sir Richard Dannatt. As we welcome him to serve with us, let us all salute those who serve our country.
Fox signalled to the world the end of Dannatt's ministerial ambitions in a little-noticed interview at the end of January. In remarks that were helpfully buried towards the end of an interview with the Sunday Times on 31 January, Fox made clear that defence chiefs had vetoed Dannatt's appointment as a minister:
They think there would be a problem in the constitutional relationships if he were to hold a ministerial role.
Fox's victory means that he will be a formidable force in a Cameron cabinet. That is quite an achievement for someone who had been subject to a whispering campaign last summer that he may not be appointed defence secretary.
And the future? Fox is still only 48. He would be one of the few cabinet ministers to have served in the last Tory government. If the Tories follow Labour's example, Cameron's successor will probably emerge from the heart of the party. Step up Liam Fox, your time may arrive, though you might have to wait a decade.
- Liam Fox
- William Hague
- Richard Dannatt
- Defence policy
- Foreign policy
- Conservatives
- Winston Churchill
- Military
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Toyota troubles put spotlight on US safety agency
Tories vow to put details of public spending over £25,000 online
• Conservatives publish document based on technology manifesto Barack Obama used in his presidential campaign, which paved the way for a 'right to data policy' in the US
• The Conservative technology manifesto
The Conservatives today promised to publish online every item of central government and quango spending worth over £25,000 – including the detail of contracts.
The plans are part of a "right to data" policy that the Tories believe will promote public accountability on issues such as "fat cat salaries" .
The UK government has already set up an online data store, which includes information on big spending by policy area, including some information on contracts.
However, it has so far resisted calls to put online the Combined Online Information System (Coins), which contains the Treasury's detailed analysis of departmental spending under thousands of category headings.
The Conservative document is based on the technology manifesto Barack Obama used in his presidential campaign, which paved the way for a "right to data policy" in the US.
It claims that access to government data would unleash innovative new applications and services that could lead to an estimated £6bn in additional value for the UK.
The "radical transparency agenda" would result in every item of central government and quango spending over £25,000 being published. From next year, if the Tories won the election, government contracts for goods and services worth over £25,000 would also be published in full, including details such as break clauses and penalty measures.
Details of UK projects that receive over £25,000 of funds from Europe will also be displayed. It is not the first time that the Tories have announced the £25,000 figure. However, it has been suggested that the policy will cost more to introduce than it would save.
All procurement tender documents for contracts worth over £10,000 will also be put online to allow small and medium businesses to bid for contracts.
The Conservatives also promise to publish detailed information on the salaries of the country's 35,000 most senior civil servants, alongside the names and salaries of all central government and quango managers earning £150,000 a year or more.
The remuneration packages of local council officials earning more than £60,000 will also be available in full, as well as councillors' expenses.
The party, which has publicly committed itself to giving local councils more say over their own affairs, intends to make town halls up and down the country publish every item of spending over £500, including contracts.
Many councils already publish spending online though this is down to local discretion.
The wide-ranging document also includes plans to create the fastest high-speed broadband network in Europe, which would generate 600,000 additional jobs and help set Britain up as a "European hub" for the digital and creative industries.
In a foreword to the document, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said the manifesto proposals presented "the most ambitious technology agenda ever proposed by a British political party", which would provide a boost to British business and help create "highly paid new jobs across the country".
He added: "We will make the British government the most technology friendly in the world, and meet our ambition that the next generation of Googles, Microsofts and Facebooks are British companies."
Other proposals include creating a level playing field for small and medium businesses seeking lucrative IT contracts by breaking up larger projects into smaller components.
Hélène Mulhollandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Nigeria: Protesters Demand to See Yar'Adua
Rail maintenance workers vote to strike
• RMT union refuses to rule out Easter national walkout
• Talks continuing over BA cabin crew strike threat
The prospect of a national rail strike over Easter loomed larger this morning after maintenance workers voted in favour of a walkout.
The RMT union refused to rule out a bank holiday strike by thousands of Network Rail staff, and they could be joined by 5,500 signal workers whose ballot result is announced next week.
Meanwhile, a source close to the fraught peace talks between British Airways (BA) and the Unite union said informal discussions over averting a cabin crew walkout were continuing, with the possibility that strike dates would not be announced today. A source close to Bassa, Unite's cabin crew branch, said it had no wish to disrupt BA passengers.
Bob Crow, the RMT general secretary, left open the option of an Easter national rail walkout and called on Network Rail to hold further talks over changes to working practices. "It could well be that both the signal workers and maintenance workers take action together," he told Sky News.
Network Rail believes it can withstand a maintenance strike for at least a week, with some branch line closures, before services are disrupted by safety measures such as speed restrictions. However, the company admitted this week that a signallers' strike could bring the busiest sections of the network to a halt because the main signalling centres, which employ around 3,000 people, would be unstaffed.
Crow said the vote, with 77% in favour on a turnout of 65%, reflected concerns over rail safety after Network Rail's decision to restructure its maintenance division. The Network Rail proposals include 1,500 redundancies, the majority voluntary.
"RMT members were faced with a stark choice in this ballot. They could either sit back and wait for these cash-led maintenance cuts to lead to another major disaster on Britain's railways or they could vote to take action to stop the attack on rail safety. They have overwhelmingly voted to take action," said Crow.
Network Rail, which has overseen a significant increase in rail passenger safety since taking over from Railtrack in 2002, has denied vehemently that the new regime could see a return to the dark days of the Hatfield crash in 2000, in which four people died, and the Potters Bar accident in 2002, which claimed the lives of seven people.
A Network Rail spokesperson said: "The way the railway is maintained and operated needs to change. Work practices that date back to the steam age should no longer have a place on a modern railway.
"We cannot allow the unions to hold this country to ransom. Negotiation is the only way this dispute will be settled, and the sooner we get around the table the better for everyone."
Unite and Bassa officials met to discuss the next steps in the industrial dispute with BA that is close to escalating into a walkout, after a deadline to secure a deal was missed yesterday evening. The general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Brendan Barber, is acting as an intermediary in the talks with BA.
The Bassa source said it had "absolutely no wish" to trigger a strike and claimed that the two sides were £10m apart in agreeing on cost-saving proposals. Unite and Bassa have offered a one-off 2.6% pay cut in talks, but BA says the proposals are still "significantly short" of its £60m cost-saving target.
In a direct appeal to Willie Walsh, BA's chief executive, the source said: "We are taking this opportunity to ask him to reconsider the formal offer of cuts we have made and to accept the sacrifices that we and our members are willing to make in order to help British Airways to protect on-board service levels for its customers, and so prevent industrial action.
"What company in their right mind would refuse the offer of a pay cut from its own staff to protect the health, safety and service offered to its customers? Before ordinary people's travel plans are unnecessarily inconvenienced we hope that common sense will prevail and that our offer is reconsidered. The deadline for calling industrial action is very close. Mr Walsh should not squander that time."
A BA spokeswoman said the airline remained available for talks. One emerging scenario could see BA lodge a formal offer to Unite that would allow the union to extend its strike mandate while members consider the proposal. Unite must announce strike dates by Monday under rules set down by the 1992 Trade Union Act.
One key sticking point in the BA proposals is that the airline appears to have accepted the partial repeal of staffing cuts but has not gone far enough to satisfy Unite and Bassa. BA is understood to have offered the return of about 184 cabin crew positions, while Unite is seeking around 700. BA unilaterally cut staffing levels on flights by at least one flight attendant last November, after a voluntary redundancy programme.
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Does switching off an escalator at Victoria station really save energy?
His email describes an experience he had yesterday evening:
At Victoria Station tonight at 8.00pm London Underground closed down one of the up escalators from Victoria Line to the main concourse. They put up a sign saying it was "switched off to save energy". It goes on to say that this would happen during quieter times of the day as a way of saving energy. But this happened at 8.00pm on a weekday night when trains were still pretty full, which meant there was a queue of people trying to get up one escalator, forcing others to walk up a non-moving escalator. See Picture.
I was sceptical that any saving made would be greater than the cost of the inconvenience to Tube users (especially as there are lots of travellers with suitcases going to Gatwick airport) plus the unintended side affect of some travellers deciding to use cars or other more polluting forms of transport than Tube travel.
Interesting. The reader asks?
How much money is saved per hour turning off the escalators? My original guess that it would need to be thousands of pounds per hour, to outweigh the potential dis-benefits of the above.
Helpfully the TFL website tells us how much per year an escalator costs to run. There is a report from 2009 which states: "The amount of electricity used by an escalator varies depending on how long it is and how far it rises but as a guide will cost in the region of between £7,000 and £12,000 each year."
This is from page 33 of the London Underground Carbon Footprint report 2008, published in 2009. My reader continues:
I was surprised by these low figures. If we assume that the escalator at Victoria station is one of the more expensive ones, the hourly cost is less than £2.00 per hour: £12,000 divided by 365 days divided by 18 hours per day.
£1.83, to be exact. Well, that's what my calculator says.
In July 2009 Boris Johnson said about the £695million plan to improve the station: "This key upgrade will transform the experience for those using the station - making life easier and more convenient." But TfL's own figures suggest it doesn't make economic or environmental sense to turn off escalators at 8.00pm in busy stations like Victoria.
I should disclose two things about this reader: one, I know him to be a very competent person; two, he is a Labour Party member. That done, I'll be asking TfL if they think he has a point.
Dave Hillguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Ghana: Volta Chiefs Put Mills On the Carpet
Analysis: US hamstrung on Israeli settlements
