August 18: Rail travellers taken for a ride

Even though rail nationalisation is the one policy being advocated by Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn which resonates with a significant number of Conservative supporters, David Cameron is unlikely to go down this route because it would be an admission that John Major’s government did get it wrong when it privatised the railways in the mid-1990s.

However this should not preclude Ministers from ensuring that passengers receive a fairer deal. Even though commuters continue to pay considerably more for tickets than their counterparts in Europe, their needs have frequently been secondary to the inflated salaries that continue to be paid to senior executives within the railway industry while the recent decision to “pause” the electrification of the TransPennine Express and Midland Mainline has angered many.

In case it has escaped the attention of Ministers, the railways are a public service – train operating companies and Network Rail continue to receive huge subsidies from the taxpayer – and this needs to be reflected in future decision-making. After all, the railways remain critical to the implementation of George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse vision – and the Government’s desire for people across this region to obtain better career opportunities as part of its One Nation agenda. However this will not happen if people of relatively modest means are priced off the railways by a fares structure that penalises the aspirational.

Gesture politics

Belated response to dairy crisis

EVEN though the Tories pride themselves on being the traditional party of the countryside, the complacency of Ministers has been exposed by a, frankly, derisory response to the latest dairy crisis. Three weeks after farmers started taking direct action in order to expose the ruthless pricing practices of the major supermarkets, Environment Secretary Liz Truss has finally intervened by promising a £24m rural growth programme to help countryside businesses.

By the time it is implemented, it will be too late for those dairy farms which are going bankrupt because of the squeeze on milk prices. Yet, while those concerned are a victim of events outside of their control, namely supermarket profit margins and an over-supply of milk in the global market, they do have a right to expect their Government to do more to promote British produce rather than simply recycling platitudes which sounded hollow when they were first uttered before the election.

Instead of meeting her counterparts from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Ms Truss should be calling a meeting of farming ministers from EU to force through new rules on labelling which will greatly assist Britain’s dairy sector and end those ambiguities that continue to confuse consumers on a daily basis. Perhaps it would also be helpful, in future, if politicians with experience of the countryside and rural economy were appointed to senior roles at Defra. For, while Ms Truss is widely regarded as one of her party’s rising stars, her areas of expertise – education and the economy – are not particularly suited to the urgent need to help an industry in crisis.

Retail reputation

John Lewis dividend priceless

EVEN Before the first customers have been welcomed to its new flagship store, the John Lewis effect is already being felt in Leeds with confirmation that the city is to be home to a state-of-the-art distribution depot that will employ more than 65 people.

The department store’s official opening next year, as part of the long-awaited Victoria Gate development, will help to re-enforce the retail reputation of Leeds still further as the country’s pre-eminent shopping destination outside of London.

The economic dividend does not end here. As one of the country’s leading co-operatives, hundreds of store staff will benefit from the firm’s aspirational management model and its “never knowingly undersold” mantra which remains timeless.

The one surprise is that it has taken so long for John Lewis to embrace Leeds – and vice-versa. The new store, and supply chain,

will be a “win, win” for both in 2016.