Thank you to Andrew Coates for pointing out the Labour Party’s response.  They’re still saying “we’re against the sell off, but it’s not the right time”.  I wonder if there were heated discussions before that equivocation came up.  They must think they’ve got a chance of winning next year if they are saying “not yet” because they are going to have to do something very similar, although doubtless it will be packaged in a different way.

Let’s face it, if Labour councillors were really serious about stopping this sale they could do it with one phone call.  The junior transport minister is Chris Mole, who is in charge of encouraging councils to sell off buses.  Councils like Plymouth, Reading … and Ipswich.  Ipswich can not be won without the work of the Labour councillors. They could simply say “Look Chris, we are not going to do a lick of work for you in any safe Labour ward and instead concentrate on winning the marginal wards in Ipswich Council unless you veto this bus sell off.” He’d almost certainly lose if Labour were out canvassing in Bridge rather than Gipping, and he knows it.  And Labour could possibly win the council in May.

Instead Labour are not actually going to stop the sale, they’re going to use it to get the disgruntled and ambivalent to rally round the flag.  And it’s working well.  And then they will sell the buses off.

At last the Tories respond on the potential sale of the stake in Ipswich Buses to the Go-Ahead group.  Obviously it’s partisan, mercilessly mocking Labour on their three positions on bus privatisation (nationally for, locally both adamantly against and saying maybe but not yet).  That’s to be expected, after all with Chris Mole as the transport minister Labour can’t make much of the running on this unless Chris Mole were to veto or delay this measure.  And if he were to do that in his backyard then there would be wild fires in all these areas such as Plymouth where he’s helped to push through bus sell offs.  Expect a lot of Conservative canvassers to point out the role of the undersecretary of transport and MP for Ipswich in the bus sell off.

Labour’s best local issue has for some time been the buses, but their MP has been instrumental in the municipal sell offs.  If I were a local councillor I would be furious to see my best gun spiked.  And after the hospital.

A left of Labour candidate could clean up, although in Ipswich there’s no real action on the ground apart from a couple of blogs (Andrew Coates has written nothing since his “utter numpty” post, instead talking about the attitude of the Irish Greens on blasphemy laws, the socialist leanings of David Tenant.  No really, I didn’t make either of these two up.

Will the Greens move in with a full throated cry for municipal ownership of the buses, with public transport, anti-commercialism and local ownership it should be made for them.  If they do would they be able to get their message through to the large Estates on the outskirts where the issue could catch fire?  Even if they weren’t pushing all their troops into Norwich South at the General Election, this is probably not something they could do even if they wanted to.

I still think this is going to get the Labour vote out and could lose the Tories a knife edge seat (like Bridge) but it could have been so, so much bigger.  Oh Mr Mole, what have you done?

Well, it’s actually on an Irish transport forum:

http://garaiste.yuku.com/topic/10119/t/And-now-Ipswich-.html

What’s striking about all of these comments from outside Ipswich is the sense of inevitability of stand alone operators being subsumed and the advantages of taking advantage of the expertise and capital of a larger group.

It would still be a shame if we lost the local control that means that anyone in Ipswich can get a decent answer out of the head of Ipswich Buses within a couple of days.  If we could keep that then it would be the best of both worlds.

It’s easy to ignore what the Ipswich Labour group thinks as they do tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to anything these days.  It’s like a headless chicken, just because it runs around it does not mean that it’s thinking.  However they are the biggest party in Ipswich and could always get back in control of the council.

Alistair Ross has put the reaction on his blog and, he’s against it.  I’m not going to quote him verbatim, and instead link to his post.

His arguments are:

1.  It’s been owned by the “people of Ipswich” for more than 100 years

Well, it’s been owned by Ipswich Council, which is hardly the same thing. However public influence does not need to be done through 100% ownership.   If we’re getting rid of any influence that Ipswich council has over this then it will be a problem.

2.  Profit’s bad

No it’s not. Profit means that food can be provided far more effectively than it was in Poland or East Germany, for one example.  Profit means that services are provided more efficient, investments are made that couldn’t be done through the public sector and there is more incentive to change. To take the profit’s bad idea to its logical conclusion would be to nationalise all opticians and Ipswich Grammar school.  Andrew Coates may approve of that, but the Labour Party did not even agree with that in the 1983 election.

The question is whether profit will get in the way of providing a service more than a cash strapped council will.  There are arguments on both sides, but “profit is bad” is not one of them.

3.  Higher fares will mean higher concessionary bus fares

If there are higher fares.  However council subsidised fares will be more expensive at whatever price point.  It may be a price that we are prepared to pay, but there really should not be the one sided equations that are presented here.

4.  It’s the wrong time – as it’s too cheap

This is a decent argument, as it points to the fact that Labour will reach a very similar deal if they get elected in May, with one or two cosmetic adjustments.

However councils are having the cash taken away from them now, not when the economy recovers from Gordon Brown’s recession in five years’ time.  Councils of all stripes need the cash now and they need to keep the costs down in the next three or so years.

5.  Total opposition to privatisation

Leaving aside that it’s a hostage to fortune, the Labour government have instructed councils to sell assets and Ipswich Labour MP Chris Mole has said that Councils should decide  on bus company sales and joint ventures.  Is the Ipswich Labour Party declaring UDI from the Labour government and their own MP?

One of the great things about the internet is it allows us to indulge our passions.  With me it’s the area I live in, other people, the Omnibuses blog, are interested in the way the bus industry is reacting to modern pressures.  And at the moment they are interested in Ipswich Buses going to Go Ahead, and they’ve got an interesting view on what Chris Mole will do.

Ipswich Leninist Andrew Coates also sounds pleased as it looks like he’s got a campaign he can get his teeth into.

Ipswich Council is in talks to sell off Ipswich Buses to the Go Ahead group.  No doubt certain councillors who never use the buses (or live in the ward) are preparing their leaflets now.  It’s a good thing I’m not standing as a Conservative in the next Borough elections. Oh wait, I am.

The truth is that subsidising just about anything, and that includes Ipswich Buses, is impossible in the current economic climate and all three parties know it.   We are the last of the G20 countries to climb out of the recession.

The most important thing that concerns this ward is whether the bus services in the Maidenhall Estate will keep at their current levels and whether the progress that is slowly being made with coordinating the bus services on the Wherstead Road is continued.

I will continue to be looking at this and report back.

The website of Chris Mole was paid (at double the going rate) for by you and me, as taxpayers.

http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/chris-mole/Chris_Mole_0506_IEP.pdf

If you’re a Labour loyalist then this is a good deal, if you’re not then you’ve been robbed.

When one of the most prominent links on their website is to a scaremongering Labour website you can almost hear the refund cheque being written.  The office expenses are not for party political activity after all.

You then get some of the frankly bizarre poll questions that make you wonder if the author hasn’t been hired from the Chinese Communist Party Department of Very Fair One Sided Poll Questions.  Take this example:

“Do you agree that getting a university campus in Ipswich is a major triumph for the Labour Party in Ipswich”

How do you parody that question?  Remeber that you, not the Labour Party paid for that.

From beyond parody to the screaming subtext, how about this poll question:

“Do you think that local Tories and Liberals were vindictive to sack Labour councillor Phil Smart from the chair of Ipswich Buses for revealing cuts plans”

Now what would the publicly funded Chris Mole website, Ipswich Buses and Councillor Phil Smart all have in common?