A DRASTIC RESPONSE TO COMMUTER WOES
CHRIS GRAYLING’S mailbox at the Department of Transport is about to get even bigger.
As Cabinet minister responsible for the crisis-hit rail network, he must be used to dealing with mountains of complaints from exasperated commuters. But now MPs in his own party are to increase the workload.
Maria Caulfield, Tory MP for Lewes, promised this week to “bombard” the Transport Secretary with gripes from her constituents about delays and cancellations on Southern Rail.
“I urge anybody who has had such experiences to email or write to me so that I can print and send more personal experiences to Chris Grayling,” the backbencher said, announcing that she plans to forward a batch of complaints to the Transport Secretary on a weekly basis.
“This will hopefully allow him to fully gauge the misery that this is causing to local people,” she added.
Ms Caulfield’s response reflects growing concern among Tory MPs in commuter constituencies across the country that the increasingly dismal performance of rail operators could wreck their hopes of holding on to their seats at the next general election.
Mr Grayling went on the offensive this week by highlighting the impact militant rail unions including the RMT and Aslef have in forcing up ticket prices.
Tory MPs are wondering whether his intervention signals a more confrontational approach from the Government.
Rail unions have repeatedly used their grip on the transport system to repeatedly block and sabotage attempts at modernising working practices on the railways. For some Tories, the rail unions are rivalling Arthur Scargill’s National Union of Mineworkers in their readiness to punish ordinary consumers to try to get their way.
Today’s railways appear to be one of the last remaining bastions of Seventies-style union power.
It is far from clear whether Mr Grayling and Prime Minister Theresa May, with so many other challenges facing the Government, have the appetite for a showdown with the rail unions. But ministers can expect growing pressure from Tory MPs to tackle the rail crisis before it starts cancelling out their votes in the commuter belt.