What's in store for the business travel community following the government's radical spending review of autumn 2010?
THE COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING Review was the high theatre of the political autumn, the focus of lobbying and manoeuvring within government to ensure that particular projects and fiefdoms emerged as intact as possible, with the media pouncing on every leaked account of battle-lines being drawn and arguments raging. We saw some departments take their medicine quietly and early, while others fought until the end. Each settlement was a cocktail of detailed examination of the issues, resonance with the public, and good old fashioned political heavyweights knowing how important they are to the government and digging their heels in.
As we survey the fallout, we can see that the government surprised many by protecting a number of transport capital-spending projects. The rationale behind this was jobs - in addition to benefits in the future, big infrastructure projects create employment, and if any public sector stimulation of the economy was needed, then the country might as well get bricks and mortar for its money. Consequently we see motorway widening, Crossrail and Tube upgrades all emerging relatively unscathed by the cuts.
What we also find is that the Spending Review being out of the way allows the government to focus more on policy development.
The business traveller should watch a number of key announcements in the coming months with interest:
- Rail companies are braced for a strategy for implementing franchise reform to existing and new franchises, and measures to support further capacity improvements and electrification of the rail network.
- High-speed rail will see a strategy emerge for consultation, detailing network options (including scope for Heathrow and High Speed One links) and the route of the initial London-Birmingham phase of High Speed Two.
- The South East Airport Taskforce continues its work on aviation, publishing its recommendations in July 2011, and a scoping document for sustainable framework for UK aviation will emerge from within the Department for Transport (DfT) in the spring.
- The DfT policy wonks are in overdrive, and there will be plenty for the business travel industry to get its teeth into.
However, the quiet from the opposition corner is about to end as Ed Miliband attempts to stamp his mark on his party by wiping the policy-slate clean and commencing a review process in all shadow departments (conveniently brushing under the carpet that he drafted the last election manifesto).
This will see each shadow secretary-of-state looking at their patch afresh, taking on board evidence from industry, stakeholders and the public, and fashioning their own responses to key issues. With the next general election potentially four-and-a-half years away, the temptation is to ignore this process, but this would be to miss its true significance.
Take South East airport expansion: the coalition looks as if it won't budge an inch on this issue, but will the review process mean that Labour quietly sets down its own support for expansion and leaves championing a third runway to maverick backbenchers?
It is not official policy that will be irrelevant for another four years that's at stake in this process - it's a counter narrative about our infrastructure and the health of an economy that is putting pressure on the government to justify its current course of action on this issue and many others. High stakes indeed.