The parochial politics of British Transport Policy,- and what they mean.

British Transport Secretary Justine Greening's go-ahead for the new HS2 High Speed rail link initially between London and Birmingham with later extensions to Heathrow from the southern end and Manchester, Leeds and ultimtely possibly points north and Scottish from the northern, came as a welcome relief.

Two previous decisions, the one saying "Never" to the building of a third runway at Heathrow and the much smaller but still important rejection of the low cost plan for a rail link between Heathrow and the 3rd rail electric railway network south of the airport, west to Reading and east back to London's Waterloo were transparently politically orientated towards rewarding and encouraging Conservative voters in sometimes closely contested west London constituencies, not least those of Ms Greening and her predecessor, Philip Hammond.

The cancellation of the 3rd Heathrow runway, already given the go-ahead by Labour's forward looking Lord Adonis (also the prime mover of HS2), was a disastrous, nakedly political and unnecessary vote-grabbing promise by David Cameron before the May 2010 General Election. It was the epitome of vision-free Little England thinking and pointed worryingly towards the lack of any political philosophy about building for the country's future. Worse still, it did indicate any alternative other than the decline of London as a world airline and business centre and hub. It was electioneering at its worst and if uncorrected,- as seems likely to be the case short of a Labour victory in 2015,- it will cost UK Plc billions at an ever increasing rate over years to come.

The cancellation by Hammond of the southern Heathrow rail connection was also dire. A Works Order was imminent and the digging not far off when the Secretary of State brought it to a juddering halt. The problem? Traffic congestion and delays if a major level crossing in the middle of his constituency had to close 4 more times every hour. That would have cost him a few hard times at local social occasions and the dinner invitations may have dropped off a bit.

On the back of these two decisions, the prospects for HS 2 did not look good. There has been and continues to be almost hysterical opposition to the project particularly from Conservative constituencies and Councils in Buckhamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. Some of the shock and horror statements about devastation of the landscape, noise of near Concorde proportions, frightening horses and the like have been almost beyond belief. The line is only about 22 yards wide and any observation shows that, once built, railways usually blend well with their surroundings. One pity about this one is that the tens of thousands of travellers daily will, thanks to the uproar in the Chilterns , be deprived of views of this area of outstanding natural beauty. Those will be reserved for local residents. All that though is another story. Back to the politics. Further north, where the Tory constituencies begin to thin out, most MPs and Councils unsurprisingly want the line for all its benefits in speeding links between its major cities as well as from north to south. The megaphone level opposition and disinformation will continue to flow and looks like remaining as serious background noise as the project moves tortuously forward at the speed of a constipated snail over the next four years. That's the earliest the first sod might be cut. There have been threats by MPs to resign or at least abandon their posts (The Welsh Secretary) and voters to vote for someone else at the next election. Who? Ed Miliband? In the Chilterns? UKIP? Well, maybe but not in big enough quantities to dislodge the Tories. That little calculation may have swung the balance this time in favour of ignoring the sensitivities of the local constituencies. A few sops were thrown in to placate wealthy Tory interests,- Hartwell House saw its section of line bent a bit towards the much larger number of less well off/influential people in the a big new estate on the neighbouring fringe of Aylesbury and the short bit further out past Edgcote House was gently curved away to go closer to less affluent folks instead. The views down the hill from Waddesdon Manor seem to have been well looked after too.

Transport is just one area of government/political activity. If these sorts of things appear to be happening in that quarter, what ,one speculates, is going on in others where local interests of both MPs and constituents, are involved ? The expenses scandal and public outcry last year showed indignation about any whiff of less than the highest standards of behaviour being shown by the elected representatives. Expenses are just one area of activity. Determination and execution of policy in the whole national interest rather than local or personal ones is another. Mr Cameron is on dangerous ground if he allows any chinks to appear in his once stated intention of cleaning up Westminster behaviours. The need/demand is for integrity. Let's say it again and spell it out slowly so there's no mistake. I-N-T-E-G-R-I-T-Y.