It’s a big week for transport nerds with trains AND planes dominating the headlines. Great news for a certain Scottish leader who might be wanting to make a quick escape!
Our Who’s Top Who’s Not blog looks at what’s been going on in politics over the last week to see who’s flying high and who’s stuck at a red signal. First up is...
Top: Louise Haigh MP
You only have to mention train delays to the average Brit to ensure increased blood pressure and a 10-minute rant. In a country where everything feels like it’s not working, the jewel atop our broken crown is our train system.
No wonder that Labour’s announcement on reforming our trains has left journos feeling…chuffed? For a party that has been accused of being visionless, the Shadow Secretary for Transport, Louise Haigh’s plans are clear and ambitious. And with lobby journalist amongst the UK’s army of commuters, positive press coverage has been forthcoming.
Whilst it’s been a good strategy for Labour to under-promise in the hopes of overachieving in government, vague notions of plans to achieve “growth” and “boost” the economy don’t sound that different from language we’ve heard under the Tories. As Labour firmly maintain hold of their lead in the polls, is the chronically insecure Labour party gaining enough confidence to go full steam ahead with more dramatic policy proposals?
Even if Labour staffers couldn’t quite bring themselves to write the word “nationalisation” in the policy document, this is a big step for the party and sets an exciting precedent for future proposals. All aboard!
Mid: Rishi Sunak MP
Despite his unwavering belief in the Bill, Sunak will have been relieved to see the highly controversial Rwanda Bill reach royal assent this week.
The Bill set out to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, and on the way has faced nearly every legal and political challenge possible. Whilst progressing through parliament, Sunak managed to subdue what could have been one of the largest Tory rebellions, fend off human rights groups around the world, and stay strong in the face of continued threats of legal action - even from his own civil servants.
Sunak may look back on his tenure as Prime Minister and see this legislation as a landmark victory that shows the Conservatives are tough on immigration, but many more people are likely to see this as a pet project of an increasingly out of touch leader, at odds with the interests of the electorate and many in his own party.
The challenge now is to put the Bill into action. It was much more politically useful as a means to divide the opposition and to provide a straw man to blame in the guise of the ECHR but this hasn't worked. Once planes are in the air, Sunak needs it to actually operate as a deterrent. If it doesn't, the PM will wonder if this was the best way to spend his limited political capital.
Not: Humza Yousaf MSP
Yousaf has made headlines this week by tearing up the Bute House Agreement. The deal brought Green ministers into government, and was meant to be in place until the next Scottish Parliamentary elections in 2026. Even though tensions have been brewing between the two parties for some time, it is still a shocking move.
The break from the Greens mean that the SNP no longer has a majority in the Scottish parliament and will need to go to other parties to persuade them to support SNP policy…in a general election year…famously a time where politicians are at their most collaborative…!
What does that mean for the SNP’s electoral prospects? Well, the SNP are a long way from their glory days and have been for some time. From the electorate’s perspective, as Scottish independence is looking harder to achieve and with more pressing matters to attend to - like the cost of living crisis – voters are less swayed by the SNP’s independence message.
All this means that Sunak might be happy that someone else’s leadership is under scrutiny. But no one will be more excited about Yousaf’s troubles than Starmer, who may be able to reclaim Scottish Labour votes from the SNP; something which is crucial if he is to reach No.10.