Some observers of the continuing arguments over the HS2
project may have felt a sense of déjà vu this morning, as a report has appeared
in the Independent asserting “The
wrong side of the tracks: Lobbyists for HS2 rail line funded by the taxpayer”.
Taxpayer-funded lobbying, eh? Where have we heard that one before? And what is
the connection here?
What is not in question is that two staff from Westbourne Communications, which offers a
skill set that includes lobbying, have been seconded to HS2 Limited, the company which
is developing and promoting HS2. The company is wholly owned by the Department
for Transport (DfT). This has been sufficient for our old friends the HS2
Action Alliance (HS2AA), named because it doesn’t want any action, to cry foul.
On top of the secondments, HS2 Ltd paid Westbourne £80,000
in the year to July. And the DfT has paid Westbourne £24,000. So the shout has
gone up: this is held to have been taxpayer funded lobbying. Government, or
Government owned company, pays firm that does lobbying. Therefore Government is
paying said firm to lobby it, and hence the conclusion.
Where we have heard this one before is with the so-called
Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA), who, back in August 2009, produced another in their
series of dubiously researched “reports”
detailing £38 million of
payments by Government to firms which, like Westbourne Communications,
offered a skill set that included lobbying. But there was a problem with the
TPA’s logic.
Nobody argued that the payments were made, but what the TPA
did not demonstrate is what the payments were for. The firms concerned did not
just perform lobbying. The TPA did not show what even one of the payments was actually for. At the time, Mick Fealty
of Slugger O’Toole fame called
out the TPA, to subsequent amusement as Matthew Sinclair failed to address
the issue.
But the TPA is not present on this occasion, so why is their
“dodgy dossier” mentioned? Ah well.
The TPA and HS2AA worked closely together on attacking HS2, with the latter
being heavily promoted in the TPA’s knocking copy. And HS2AA was no stranger to
the kind of easy dishonesty that characterises TPA propaganda, with the
“Bradford is bigger than Edinburgh”
whopper a prime example.
Today’s Indy piece is just recycling the TPA’s “taxpayer funded lobbying” line – no proof
of such a practice is offered, save the usual nudge-nudgery, and none will be – along with accusations that
the Westbourne secondments amount to the same thing, which will also not be
backed up with any evidence. So into the maelstrom of lame knocking copy is
thrown a little more. Nobody should be surprised.
And the main reason for HS2 – capacity – is not addressed. That’s not good enough.
1 comment:
By the way, I've e-mailed Alastair Darling to ask him what solution he has in mind for the overcrowding on the suburban services into London. No response yet (Friday evening, to be fair, so I'll allow for a bank holiday weekend), but I intend to keep pestering him until I get an answer.
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