ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with looking at where the policy proposals sit in the continuum of policy statements over the years. It highlights how the Labour Party’s thinking on transport issues has changed since the 1960s when it published its last really important policy statement on the subject. The chapter considers the objectives of the proposals, the constraints that confront those developing the policy and, the policy instruments that have been favoured. It provides a prelude to a comparison with what the Labour Party was attempting to do thirty years ago. The transport policy of the EU has moved toward the Anglo-Saxon doctrine that has been the basis of UK transport policy since the late 1960s. The Conservative’s transport policy shifted the emphasis further from command-and-control regulation and towards more market based policy instruments. The environmental debate was an important element in policy formulation.
