Posted 7th September 2022 | 4 Comments

Liz Truss tells Shapps to leave transport post

The new Prime Minister Liz Truss has replaced Grant Shapps as transport secretary with former international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan.

Mr Shapps, MP for Welwyn Garden City, is returning to the back benches.

In recent days Mr Shapps had supported Boris Johnson in calling on Transport for London to start planning for driverless Underground trains, and also gained notoriety when he insisted in a television interview that there are four trains an hour between London and Manchester, although there is currently just one under Avanti West Coast’s reduced timetable and never have been four. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of railway reopenings, and attended the return of passenger services to Okehampton last November.

The cabinet reshuffle has also seen rail minister Wendy Morton leaving the Department for Transport to become chief whip. Her successor at the DfT has not yet been announced.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan had supported Liz Truss in the competition to become leader of the Conservative Party, while Mr Shapps was briefly a candidate for the leadership himself.

Ms Trevelyan is a former chartered accountant, and has been an MP since 2015. She represents the border constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Reader Comments:

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  • Steve Alston, Crewe

    Farewell Grant / Corinne / Mr Green etc, more names than those two MPs Ian and Duncan Smith.

    I'm just waiting for one of his four trains an hour from Manchester to London.

  • Chris Jones-Bridger, Buckley Flintshire

    We should be used to the every revolving door at the DfT as transport secs & ministers come and go. As we've seen in recent years despite grand promises headline schems have been delayed & ambition reigned back especially as finances have been stretched due to the pandemic. It was noticable that during her acceptance speeches while the new PM stressed the need to continue & speed to infrastructure works while road building was name checked no mention was made of rail.

    The immediate crisis facing the new Transport Sec is the dire state of industrial relations. Given the political stace of our latest PM I wouldn't hold out for an immediate fix.

  • H.Gillies-Smith, South Milford

    Former Chartered Accountant..........does this mean everything run to a tight budget and stagnation of services as a result?

  • John Porter, Leeds

    Glad to hear that Anne-Marie Trevelyan represents the border constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed, served by the East Coast Main Line (ECML).
    That should add impetus to the Hybrid via Newark HS2 Phase 2b Eastern Leg Options, which substantially upgrades ECML between Newark & the Selby Diversion.
    The IPR’s “best way to serve Leeds study” might even get started.