But if you want to say we all live in the UNITED Kingdom - do away with the welsh assembly (and the scottish parliament who are worse BTW▸ )
How so worse? They both choose to spend money on reopening railways and expanding capacity. It is precisely because England is still under the dead hand of the Treasury that nothing of this kind is happening here.
In most of the rest of Europe, regional/local government has far more power than in the
UK▸ , particularly with regard to things like transport, because they know far better than someone who never ventures beyond the capital city what local needs actually are.
Mookiemoo, I recall that you travel to Munich for work on occasion. The high-quality public transport system there is not the creation of a ministry in Berlin, it is the result of decisions made in the city itself and by the Bavarian regional government.
Closer to home, it's obvious no-one from the
DfT» went on a Portsmouth-Cardiff train before deciding they could be run with two coaches instead of three, they just looked at some out-of-date passenger figures at their desk in London and signed it off.
Compare the quality of rail services in the handful of former metropolitan counties in England, which still have dedicated cross-boundary passenger transport authorities with a degree of autonomy over spending and some political clout, with what's on offer around say Bristol or Southampton/Portsmouth. But even in the
PTA▸ areas the Treasury has blocked a series of tram system plans.
We need more decentralisation in England, not less, with a slimmed-down UK government that actually trusts people to get on with deciding what's best for their area and region instead of constantly meddling.
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