He's Labour's Shadow Minister for Transport for God's sake and we haven't heard a peep from him.
Surely if Labour were a force to be reckoned with, it would be he who was leading the fight.
If you scour his web site there's not a mention of it.
No wonder we ordinary mortals are tearing our hair out in frustration: we see something blatantly crooked going on and no politician shouts out and leads the fight locally.
Yes he is doing something about through trains to Manchester but isn't the handling of this bid far more important and basic to the public's view of democracy. We are promised that with over 100,000 on a petition to parliament we get an emergency debate. Yet with well over 160,000 this has been denied - and who led what fight there was? No not the Shadow Minister for Transport but Tim Farron the Liberal Democrat. What kind of politician is John Woodcock? A cardboard cut out? He comes across as an eleven year old dressed up as a man. We're dealing with wolves out there we need real leadership.
Here is the answer I have received from his office:
Dear Dr Dellow
Thank you for your recent emails to John Woodcock regarding the West Coast Mainline bid, which we received on Saturday 1st September. Unfortunately John is not able to respond personally at the moment as he is recovering at home from a recent accident.
However, I can say that his position follows that of the shadow secretary of state, Maria Eagle, who has been quoted extensively in the media in the last fortnight. The shadow frontbench have a number of concerns about the government’s decision to accept the First Group bid. Firstly, they feel that First Group’s bid may be unrealistically high, which could lead to sharp fare rises or in First Group being unable to meet their contractual obligations. They also have concerns that, whatever company ends up running the West Coast Mainline, the franchise agreement allows the successful operator to close ticket offices, reduce staff levels and significantly increase fares so that some routes could see fare increases by up to 11% for the next two years and up to 8% each year until 2026. The recent fare increases are already seriously affecting many commuters and rail users.
John feels it is vital the government listens to these and other concerns that have been expressed in recent weeks. As I am sure you’re aware, the secretary of state for transport yesterday confirmed that the contract with First Group will not be signed until the legal process arising from Virgin’s challenge is concluded.
As shadow transport minister, John will continue to press the government to allow appropriate parliamentary scrutiny of the decision.
Thank you once again for writing to John on this important issue. He hopes to be back at work soon and will want to hear from you if there are any further issues you wish to raise.
Kind regards
Catherine Webb
Acting Manager
Office of John Woodcock MP
Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness
Tel: 01229 431204
Web: http://www.johnwoodcock.org
Follow John on Twitter: twitter.com/JWoodcockMP
YUK is the only response I can come up with. With all this information at your finger tips why aren't you setting yourself on fire (metaphorically of course) attached to the Houses of Parliament Railings?Thank you for your recent emails to John Woodcock regarding the West Coast Mainline bid, which we received on Saturday 1st September. Unfortunately John is not able to respond personally at the moment as he is recovering at home from a recent accident.
However, I can say that his position follows that of the shadow secretary of state, Maria Eagle, who has been quoted extensively in the media in the last fortnight. The shadow frontbench have a number of concerns about the government’s decision to accept the First Group bid. Firstly, they feel that First Group’s bid may be unrealistically high, which could lead to sharp fare rises or in First Group being unable to meet their contractual obligations. They also have concerns that, whatever company ends up running the West Coast Mainline, the franchise agreement allows the successful operator to close ticket offices, reduce staff levels and significantly increase fares so that some routes could see fare increases by up to 11% for the next two years and up to 8% each year until 2026. The recent fare increases are already seriously affecting many commuters and rail users.
John feels it is vital the government listens to these and other concerns that have been expressed in recent weeks. As I am sure you’re aware, the secretary of state for transport yesterday confirmed that the contract with First Group will not be signed until the legal process arising from Virgin’s challenge is concluded.
As shadow transport minister, John will continue to press the government to allow appropriate parliamentary scrutiny of the decision.
Thank you once again for writing to John on this important issue. He hopes to be back at work soon and will want to hear from you if there are any further issues you wish to raise.
Kind regards
Catherine Webb
Acting Manager
Office of John Woodcock MP
Member of Parliament for Barrow and Furness
Tel: 01229 431204
Web: http://www.johnwoodcock.org
Follow John on Twitter: twitter.com/JWoodcockMP
No wonder the public are despairing of politics as we know it.
And the Greens where are they? (The answer is of course - mindlessly promoting the Greens without a thought to local issues or the good politicians we do have - had, Jayne Carson for example, a strong advocate on environment issues, ).
No wonder local people are talking about forming their own political party - things are getting desperate out there. Party politics rules and not the issues we're really concerned about.
