Mark Harper, the new transport secretary, has said that a transport bill will not be put forward in this current parliamentary session, despite its inclusion in this year’s Queen’s Speech.
Back in May, the-then transport secretary Grant Shapps hailed the ambitious transport bill as “the biggest of its kind in three decades” when it was announced in the Queen’s Speech.
It had been expected in autumn but Shapps’, successor, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, told the transport select committee in October that it has been shelved.
She said she was “continuing to pitch for…a narrow bill around the future of transport technologies”. More powers for the Civil Aviation Authority to protect passengers were on her list, she added.
Harper confirmed on Wednesday (December 7) that there will be no bill in this session when he made his first appearance as transport secretary before the transport select committee.
He said the government’s legislative timetable has been “transformed” over the past two years by factors such as Covid and the war in Ukraine, which had taken up a lot of time for ministers and in Parliament.
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, a member of the committee, tweeted: “The last Transport Secretary scrapped the long awaited Transport Bill, which was in the Queen’s Speech, but promised a ‘narrow’ Bill to address a number of urgent issues. The new Transport Secretary has now dropped that. This is a Government that has simply given up.”
The last Transport Secretary scrapped the long awaited Transport Bill, which was in the Queen’s Speech, but promised a “narrow” Bill to address a number of urgent issues. The new Transport Secretary has now dropped that. This is a Government that has simply given up.
— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) December 7, 2022
Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, responded to the news by saying: “For too long travellers have suffered terrible treatment from airlines, with operators routinely ignoring their legal obligations on refunds during the pandemic and often neglecting their duty to look after passengers, reroute them or pay compensation during the chaos at UK airports earlier this year.
“Without more effective enforcement of the regulation, some airlines will only be emboldened to disregard the law and passenger rights.
“Which? has led the campaign for reform of a system where the CAA has no meaningful powers to crack down on airlines that flout the law and the Transport Bill could have provided an opportunity to right this wrong and finally give passengers a regulator they can rely on to stand up for them.
“The government must follow through on its proposals to give the CAA enhanced powers, and urgently needs to offer clarity on when and how this will be achieved.”
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