Regional Transport Inequality

James Naish Excerpts

Thursday 11th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine Atkinson]

I think we can all agree that the better the technology and the real-time information that is needed, the more people will be encouraged to use our buses. We absolutely need to encourage more people to use our buses. Over the 15 years up to 2023, we saw a massive loss of bus services. Where the cuts hit has varied, but hardest hit was the east midlands region where we lost 60% of our bus services. The Transport Committee highlighted that decline in our report on buses that was published over the summer. We must not forget on whom bus investment impacts the most: the young, the elderly, those on low incomes and the disabled.

Hon. Members will be shocked that I have got this far into my speech without mentioning trains, because I talk about rail quite a lot, which is entirely understandable as a Derby MP. Derby will be the home of Great British Railways. It is the city at the centre of the largest cluster of rail companies in Europe, and arguably globally. It is the city that a few weeks ago hosted the Greatest Gathering—the world’s largest ever gathering of historical and modern rail vehicles, which was described as a “Glastonbury for trains”—to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the modern railway. However, despite this rich rail heritage in the region, there are just over 100 rail stations for 5 million people. The region has the lowest proportion of people living within a 15 to 20-minute walk of a rail station in England, and about three quarters of those stations are served by just one train or fewer per hour. The capital of rail will be the region with the lowest train station usage per head in England.

Our midlands main line that runs through the east midlands is the only main line route in England that is not yet fully electrified. It is electrified to Wigston, south of Leicester. East Midlands Railway will be putting on new bi-mode trains by the end of the year, so those living alongside the route up to Wigston will benefit and the 9 million passengers who use the line will get that far using electrified tracks. After Wigston, however, the trains will revert to diesel, and the rest of the densely populated line will continue to be exposed to more noise and tens of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ every year. Hundreds of people have written to me supporting the call for electrification.

[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend mentions that constituents have written to her, but does she acknowledge that in addition more than 30 MPs have been working together to advocate for electrification, because of the great benefits she has described?

[Catherine Atkinson]

I am grateful for the support that my hon. Friend, alongside many colleagues, has shown for electrification and the benefits that it can bring. It would be a fitting celebration of 200 years of the modern railway to continue the electrification of the midland main line, which would bring jobs, skills and hundreds of millions of pounds in economic benefits particularly to the east midlands.

I love my region, and like so many in this Chamber I know my region’s strengths and can imagine the possibilities if investment were genuinely equitably distributed around our country. If our regional transport was more equal, it would create more prosperity, economic growth, social equality, regional development and carbon reduction as well as better air quality. Our transport infrastructure is the country’s circulatory system: it connects and enriches wherever it reaches. If someone’s circulation is not great, they feel the cold a little more in their fingers, as I well know. If it is restricted more, their arms and legs get fatigue, numbness and pain. In the extreme, it eventually leads to organ failure. That is where we had been heading for far too long, but over the last year the Government have been getting the blood pumping again.

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[James Naish (Rushcliffe) (Lab)]

When we talk about regional transport inequality, the east midlands, where I was born and have lived most of my life, comes to mind as one of the clearest examples of such inequality, as my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) has said. Over the past five years, per-head transport spend in the east midlands has fallen to just 54% of the UK average—the lowest of any region or nation. As has already been said, had we simply received the English average, we would have had £7 billion more for our buses, roads and railways.

Rail funding in the east midlands is particularly unequal, at £175 per head in 2023-2024—barely 40% of the English average, and a third of what the west midlands received. These are not just abstract figures; they affect daily life. They mean high car dependency, low levels of bus usage, and a sparse and unreliable rail network. Three quarters of our stations are served by only one train per hour or fewer. This is what chronic under-investment looks like on the ground for my constituents.

As has been mentioned, there have recently been positive commitments, which I welcome, including the £2 billion allocated to our East Midlands Mayor, Claire Ward. But we have to be honest: with huge sums being spent elsewhere on HS2, the trans-Pennine upgrade, East West Rail and the lower Thames crossing—to name but a few fantastic projects—the money committed to the east midlands will not address the long-standing imbalances. Without purposeful intervention, I fear that the east midlands’ relative position will simply worsen.

So what needs to change? First, we need funding parity. I would like to see a transparent path towards bringing transport spend in the east midlands up to the English average, including on rail, where the gap is deepest. Secondly, we need certainty. We need a long-term, multi-year pipeline for road, rail, bus, station and active travel investments, rather than piecemeal one-off projects, so that local authorities and industry can plan properly. Thirdly, I would like to see housing growth matched by transport capacity. My constituency is delivering the housing that this Government want to see, and it is important that the transport is there as well.

Finally, I must mention midland main line electrification. The economic case is overwhelming: it would unlock £400 million-worth of benefits and 5,000 jobs. In contrast, keeping the scheme under review risks £40 million to £70 million in additional costs. My ask today is therefore straightforward: please, Minister, look at that scheme again.