Terry Murden: Our transport ministers are always on the move

PHILIP Hammond’s promotion to Defence Secretary means another change at the transport department. While Hammond may relish his higher profile in the Cabinet, it once again highlights the low priority that successive governments attach to the transport portfolio.

Decades of incoherent and failed transport strategies have been blamed on the high turnover of secretaries of state in the department. New ministers need time to settle and critics have long argued that by the time the latest incumbent has understood the brief he is sent to another ministry at the first hint of a reshuffle.

The Thatcher-Major governments went through 12 in 18 years, including five during the privatisation of the railways in the 1990s. Even the title has changed more than a dozen times. Between 2003 and 2007 it was combined with the role of Scottish Secretary. It has also been tied with environment and the regions (1997-2001) and local government and the regions (2001-2002), after which it reverted solely to transport and Labour went through a further five secretaries of state in eight years.

Internal transport is devolved to Scotland but other matters, such as the regulation of air services, rail and international shipping, are reserved to Westminster and, of course, Scots using transport elsewhere in the UK demand the same level of service as anyone else. But the disruption to long-term planning caused by the constant round of musical chairs is made more complex by the separation of powers.

Hammond’s successor Justine Greening will be pressured for early answers on a number of outstanding issues, not least the highly controversial HS2 rail project, which Hammond championed to the annoyance of those Conservative backbenchers whose constituencies are riven with public outrage at the plan.

Those lobbying for the high-speed line to be extended to Scotland will have to start again with a minister whom some see as a lightweight but whose promotion from number five in the Treasury indicates how highly she is regarded by the Prime Minister.

Sadly, this also means she’ll be the next to grab her coat when another “big” vacancy comes up in the Cabinet.

Lloyds flotation bid looks set to sink

IS LLOYDS Banking Group playing a game of bluff with the bidders for the assets it is being forced to offload?

Sources tell us that its option of floating the 632 branches together with various other businesses, including the Cheltenham & Gloucester mortgage division, is little more than bluster, maybe to get a better price in a sale that has hardly attracted a rush of bidders.

A number of banking analysts doubt that Lloyds could pull off a flotation in this market, one telling us that it would be a “joke”.

Lloyds maintains that flotation remains on the table, but those still hoping to buy the assets detect a weakening towards a share issue when equity markets are hardly hungry for bank stock.

Buyer beware as Bowleven soars

OIL tiddler Bowleven gave investors a 60 per cent lift in the shares on Friday after news of a discovery off Cameroon. But they should tread carefully before leaping into the stock this week, as talk of a cash call would almost certainly be at a chunky discount to the current price.