It was a good week for those who prefer their public services to be run by the state. Not only did the government announce it was taking over the East Coast Main Line rail franchise, but ministers also stepped back from their plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail.
One should not infer, however, that New Labour’s flirtation with bank nationalisation has led to a fully fledged love affair with state control. Both the rail and the Royal Mail decisions were forced by the turn of events.
The rail takeover came about because of fears that the existing contractor, National Express, would default on its franchise payments, while the ‘delay’ to the Royal Mail sell-off was generally regarded as a sop to irate Labour backbenchers.
There isn’t much of a plan to any of this. Beleaguered ministers are simply responding to each crisis in turn, and you don’t have to wait long for the next one to arrive (unlike on the East Coast Main Line).
Gordon Brown does have a national plan, of course. This week saw the roll-out of ‘Building Britain’s Future’, which outlines the prime minister’s direction of travel for the next ten months.
There was much to commend in the document, especially the commitments to boost social housing (and reform the housing revenue account), to guarantee access to a cancer specialist within two weeks and to offer school pupils one-to-one tuition where necessary.
The mantra has moved on from ‘choice’ and ‘targets’, with the emphasis now on ‘enforceable entitlements’. But, as ever with New Labour, a good deal of the detail was missing.
It was not clear how the entitlements could be enforced without excessive use of the courts. And there was little clue as to where the money was coming from.
Having a plan is one thing, but making it realistic and affordable is another. If the government wants to bring trust back into politics, it should start by properly funding its proposals and explaining any process of redress.
But, above all, it must convince the public that the national plan will get out of the sidings.
As someone once said: ‘What matters is what works.’ And, 12 years since it started its journey, the government is still only getting there – and is in danger of running out of steam.
