You quiz Philip Hammond

I’m interviewing Hammond on Thursday. What would you like me to ask him? Everyone’s got a gripe about transport. Philip Hammond, the transport secretary, is the man in charge of dealing with them. I’ve got an interview with him on Thursday and I’d like to know what you want me to ask. At the moment the biggest project on his plate is high-speed rail, which, depending on your view, is either a far-sighted investment that will transform Britain’s economy or a wasteful, multibillion vanity project. There’s a speech from Hammond setting out the case for high-speed rail here, the consultation document is here (pdf), and the Department for Transport’s high-speed rail site is here. For a summary of the case against, this polemic from Andrew Gilligan is a good starting point. But I don’t want to focus exclusively on HS2 (high speed two – HS1 is the line from London to the Channel Tunnel). On Monday this week Hammond announced a series of measures relating to drink-driving, including his decision not to lower the drink-drive limit. Other recent announcements have been on subjects like repairing winter potholes, changing the rail franchise system, modernising rail carriages and promoting electric cars . I’d be interested to hear suggested questions on these topics, or anything else in the transport portfolio. I might also try some questions about the general political situation. Hammond was shadow chief secretary to the Treasury before the election and we’ll be speaking on the day after the budget. His thoughts on the coalition may be worth hearing too. A fairly conventional Conservative (here’s his Wikipedia entry), Hammond is now teamed up with the leftish, free-thinking Liberal Democrat Norman Baker, who is based in the department as a junior minister. I’m curious about how they’re getting on. Transport policy Transport Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.