More political 'cock-wuffle'....

"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like cuttlefish spurting out ink."
George Orwell (Politics and the English Language)

"During its first 15 months, the Coalition Government has been grappling with a series of touch challenges; restoring sustainability to the public finances, rebuilding our economy and delivering our climate change commitments.
Conventional wisdom dictates that supporting economic growth is incompatible with cutting carbon. Like most conventional wisdom, this is way off the mark. But, although reducing carbon on its own is relatively easy, doing so while generating growth and spreading prosperity is a far tougher challenge: one requiring co-operation and commitment from both government and industry.
This is a challenge that this Government is tackling head-on. We are investing in the transport infrastructure and technologies that will help us build a dynamic, balanced economy, while achieving our goals for carbon reduction.
We have announced a major electrification programme to reduce the carbon footprint of our railways. Our plans for a national high-speed rail network would encourage passengers to switch from short-haul aviation to rail, while bridging the north-south divide and spreading prosperity right across the country.
And because, unlike our predecessors, we believe that the enemy is the carbon, not the car, we have also placed Britain firmly in the global vanguard of the green motoring revolution.
Thanks to the ground-breaking Plug-in car grant, which gives motorists a 25pc subsidy of up to £5,000, new ultra-low carbon cars are much more affordable.
We have set out a comprehensive electric vehicle infrastructure strategy that identifies how a national recharging network can develop in a way that is targeted, convenient and safe. And, through our £30m Plugged-in Places programme, a network of vehicle recharging points is being established in eight areas across the UK - from homes and workplaces to streets, car parks, retail and leisure facilities - to allow us.to learn how real consumers use public charging infrastructure
Initiatives like this are paying real dividends in terms of growth and jobs. Major companies are no launching innovative low-carbon vehicles in Britain and being a launch market makes the UK attractive as a manufacturing location. So Nissan is building a plant to manufacture its electric vehicles and batteries in the North-East - and others will follow. Meanwhile Chargemaster and Ecotricity have recently both announced plans to build privately funded networks of thousands of recharging points at motorway service stations and other locations across the UK by the end of the year.
The Government understands the importance of aviation in giving businesses the connectivity they need to thrive in a competitive global economy, but we also recognise that the sector can only grow if it does so sustainably. So we are looking at new ways to incentivise airlines and aircraft manufacturers to address the climate change impact of air travel and encourage investment in low-carbon technologies and fuels.
Technological improvements are vital to improving fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions. There have already been significant changes over the last decades in the efficiency of aircraft, which are today 70pc more efficient than the first commercial jets. New technologies, such as open-rotor engine designs and lightweight composite materials, have the potential to reduce carbon emissions significantly.
All this will feed into the work we are doing on our Sustainable Aviation Framework, which we will publish in draft next year. This framework will ensure that have a positive and enduring policy strategy that enables aviation to support economic growth while addressing its local and global environmental impacts.
In every mode of transport, new technology has a pivotal decarbonising role. But technology alone cannot deliver genuine sustainability. We need a productive blend of dynamic private enterprise and supportive public policy, combined with a much greater devolution of decision-making to local communities, to drive through real and lasting change.
By working in partnership to get that balance right, transport can play its full part in building the stronger economy and the greener, cleaner environment, that this country so badly needs."

So writes Philip Hammond, Transport Secretary, in the print edition of today's Daily Telegraph, outlining the Government's vision for the future of UK transport. This is part of a series being run by the Telegraph, one which has an introduction by Geoffrey Lean, thus:

"It will take a technological revolution to build the green economy, but this is already under way. Much of technology necessary to create low-carbon prosperity is available or being developed - and costs are falling fast. The question is whether Britain will be in the vanguard of developing and using it, reaping the rewards in exports and jobs, or whether, as often in the past, it will stumble along behind more far-seeing economies. In this - the second of seven pages sponsored by Shell under the editorial control of the Telegraph - leading figures describe how green technologies are taking root in such key areas as energy, transport, infrastructure and urban living. You can take part in the debate by contributing reactions and views on line."

Having trawled the Telegraph website, viewed Geoffrey Lean's article page, input "Plugged in to the green agenda (the title of Hammond's piece) into the Telegraph search facility - nothing. Likewise am I unable to find any webpage to contribute reactions and views (even if I wished to) - but I digress.....

Hammond, in common with all politicians, is practising the art of disingeniousness when he writes about investing in the transport infrastructure and technologies that will help build a dynamic, balanced economy while achieving goals for carbon reduction because, in effect, he has no option but to pursue this policy as it is a requirement of the European Union, transport being an area in which the EU has 'shared-competence'. Under the Trans European Network - Transport (TEN-T) the EU can demand certain measures, such as decarbonisation of any form of transport. A trawl round the European Commission Mobility & Transport website or the TEN-T Executive Agency website will confirm this. A further document setting out the requirements of member states can be found in Decision No 661/2010/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council dated 7 July 2010 on Union guidelines for the development of the Trans-European Transport Network.

For Hammond to write: "We need a productive blend of dynamic private enterprise and supportive public policy, combined with a much greater devolution of decision-making to local communities, to drive through real and lasting change." is pure political drivel as any 'supposed' devolution of decision-making to local communities will have no bearing on any aspect of any transport decision that is taken. Likewise where Hammond 'trumpets' major electrification programmes to reduce the carbon foot-print of our railways; encouraging passengers to switch from air to rail travel; 'bridging' divides; these are the aims of EU policy. The promotion of electric cars is no more than the aim of TEN-T and Europe 2020, which is one designed to ban all cars with combustion propulsion from city centres. Seems there might be a problem, if this report from the Guardian was correct - although logically there shouldn't be as we all know that "The EU Rules - OK?"

Poor Philip Hammond, he deserves every ounce of sympathy that we can give him - like his Leader, he suffers from the delusion that he is one of those that governs our nation!