NEW FACES, NEW CHALLENGES

摘要

As I write this, press reports suggest David Cameron will blame Labour if HS2, the high-speed rail link, is rejected. Whatever the outcome we can be pretty sure that railways will continue to dominate the transport debate in the political silly season that began with this autumn's party conferences and looks likely to continue unabated until the general election in 18 months' time. Indeed, Angela Eagle's banishment to shadow the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has been attributed to her earlier strung support for HS2, which might now come to embarrass Labour, rather than to her advocacy of more public control over buses and trains, for which she received a standing ovation from the party faithful at the Labour conference.