A KENT Labour MP has been been promoted to transport minister by Tony Blair in a reshuffle of junior ministers.

Thanet South MP Dr Steve Ladyman has been handed what is regarded as one of the most challenging jobs in government.

One of his first tasks could be to decide who will get the franchise for running the county’s rail services.

The MP, who hung on to his seat by just 664 votes, said he was shocked at the appointment but looking forward to his new role. He had been a junior minister in the health department in the last government.

He said: “It is a big brief and a big promotion. I was expecting to stay where I was. Now I’ve got the job of making the trains run on time!”

He acknowledged transport was a “major issue” but denied the government had failed to get to grips with it properly in Labour’s first two terms.

“Transport, more than anything else, takes a huge amount of time as well as a huge amount of money. It is taking long enough to fix the health service but improving the roads and railways also takes time, especially when we do not own most of it. The public is impatient for improvements, and rightly so, and wants to see them happen in the next few years.”

He stressed that as a minister he would have to take a national perspective on transport issues but that he was “well aware” of the many issues facing Kent.

“I know what the issues are in Kent and and people can rest assured that I will be focusing on them.”