Railways: Rolling Stock

Earl of Courtown Excerpts

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Popat]

The noble Lord asks an important and interesting question. The Government remain supportive of the principle of devolution in the north of England. We have agreed with Rail North leaders an initial partnership structure to take forward devolved decision-making across the north of England to help manage the risk associated with a project of this scale. Rail North and the department’s officials are developing further details of the partnership for presentation to the Secretary of State and the Rail North local authorities early in the new year. Proposals to decentralise transport powers will assist in building a rebalanced economy away from reliance on the City of London.

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend is probably aware that I travel from Swindon every day, which for many centuries was one of the homes of train manufacturing, although, sadly, that is no longer the case. What are Her Majesty’s Government doing to help train manufacturing?

[Lord Popat]

My Lords, this country has a long and proud tradition of building the best trains in the world. We would, of course, like to buy trains built in Britain wherever possible, and along with the Bombardier factory in Derby, the recent announcement that Hitachi is building a new factory in Darlington is welcome news. As part of our industrial growth strategy, the Government have taken a series of steps to support manufacture in this country. We can, and do, produce high-quality goods that are desired around the world. These railways can be very useful for us to sell abroad, especially to Africa and other countries.