West Coast Main Line Franchise

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Tuesday 19th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jesse Norman]

I completely understand the concern that my right hon. Friend describes. As he will be aware, in many of these individual cases, problems lie at the network level, or are a result of driver shortages or other reasons, as well as underperformance by the company, but I absolutely recognise—and Avanti recognises—the point he raises. The answer is that, of course, the Department will remain very firmly focused on continuing to hold this company to account for the delivery of services and the continued improvement of those services.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

Once again, we find that Transport Ministers cannot even find friends on their own Benches for these decisions. People in my constituency and in the north of England will be astonished at the decision to reimpose Avanti because of its systematic failure. The Minister did not answer the question he was just asked. Will the Government guarantee that they will cancel Avanti’s contract if, once again, it is the poster boy for failure?

[Jesse Norman]

That was not the question I was asked; I did answer the question that was asked. It is built into the new contract structure that, after the initial period, which allows for the investment that is required to continue to make sustained improvement, there is a recurring three-month capacity to call in the contract as required, precisely in order to exercise the kind of scrutiny and accountability that the hon. Gentleman is seeking.

Avanti West Coast

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Wednesday 7th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Trudy Harrison]

Avanti’s decision to provide a reduced timetable was certainly part of the solution, although not a satisfactory one—far from it. I have said before that one train service an hour is not acceptable at all. I agree with the hon. Lady about disabled people and people travelling with children—I am a mum of four, and I remember when my girls were all under five what a challenge it was to travel by train on a good day. To endure delays and cancellations, and to be stuck on a platform with young children, or for people who are disabled, is doubly difficult. I have absolute sympathy with all rail passengers who have endured the trials and tribulations of delayed and cancelled trains. We feel the pain—I certainly feel the pain, because I am a frequent train passenger—which is why we are taking action to remedy this situation and provide passengers with confidence that they can be sure of a safe, reliable and affordable train service in future.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

The Minister has varied between apologising and criticising Avanti. The one thing that she has not mentioned is the need to tell Avanti something very clear: get round the negotiating table with ASLEF and the other unions and sort out the industrial relations problem. It is a lousy employer, and a bit of industrial peace would move the railways forward.

P&O Ferries

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Robert Courts]

I entirely understand the hon. Gentleman’s concern. I think that DP World and P&O should get together, talk to their workers and look after them, which they have not done so far.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

The Minister’s response there was interesting. DP World is the parent company and has corporate responsibility for the actions of P&O Ferries. Has anybody picked up the phone to the Government of the UAE, who have responsibility for DP World, to say that this situation is simply not good enough and not good for their reputation?

[Robert Courts]

We have been absolutely clear, when we have written to P&O, that the decisions that it has taken are absolutely catastrophic for its reputation and we have said the same thing to DP World.

Transport for the North

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Wednesday 24th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson]

My hon. Friend continues to make a passionate case for Lincoln. As he will know, many of the investments that he has campaigned so strongly for are the responsibility of other Ministers in the Department for Transport, but I am sure that they have, once again, heard his pitch.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

I say to the Minister that there is no evidence that the Department for Transport can deliver on time or on cost, so why has the change to the delivery mechanism taken place? The cuts that we saw last week will have a serious impact on the economy across the whole of the north of England. Rochdale wants to trade with Hull, Newcastle and Sheffield, but the Government’s plan does not allow that to take place.

[Andrew Stephenson]

The hon. Gentleman asks about the change from co-clienting to co-sponsorship. As he will know, Crossrail, which has yet to open, was a co-cliented project, and one of the major lessons we have learned from that project being massively over-budget and delayed is that co-clienting does not work on major infrastructure projects. There need to be clear lines of accountability to the Secretary of State for Transport—he needs to be solely responsible for these projects to Parliament, the National Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee and others—and that is why we are going for a sole-clienting model. It is one of the lessons we have learned from the Crossrail debacle.

Integrated Rail Plan: North and Midlands

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Thursday 18th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

No. With the greatest respect, I do not accept that narrative for several reasons. First, that was Transport for the North’s suggestion—and actually it was to be a 29-minute journey. That was one of the options, and another of those options is what we are doing. Secondly, as I have said to the House, there are many benefits to Bradford—including that 12-minute journey to Leeds and a journey at least half an hour shorter to London—which all come about because of the integrated rail plan. Governments have to make decisions, and I accept that we cannot do everything all of the time everywhere, but, when my hon. Friend speaks to his constituents, he will be able to tell them about dramatically improved journey times as a result of the plan.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

A few moments ago, in response to the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone), the Secretary of State extolled the virtues of electrification. Any real plan for the north of England would have: electrification from the seats of my hon. Friends in Hull all the way through to Liverpool; access to Sheffield from Manchester; and access to Newcastle and the north-east. That scale of imagination is lacking in the announcement. Will he guarantee that no damage will be done that would prevent a more ambitious programme in the future?

[Grant Shapps]

It might have been lost in translation, but Liverpool to York is a core part of the NPR programme. As I have said before, it will be electrified and have some high-speed lines, too. None of this prevents further electrification. There are new plans to stretch beyond Hull to Newcastle and more. Obviously, no Government can do this in a single go. The plans I have announced today accelerate dramatically the advantages that constituents will get across the north, because it will now happen in this decade—starting from Christmas. This speeds up a lot of that, and the hon. Gentleman is right to say it does not prejudice anything else happening in the future.

Draft Airports Slot Allocation (Alleviation of Usage Requirements) (No. 2) Regulations 2021

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Tuesday 19th October 2021 General Committees

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

May I say what a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies?

I would like to ask the Minister a series of questions, although I will allow him time to collect his thoughts. The point that the hon. Member for South Thanet makes is very real: there is no free market when the allocation of slots is effectively determined by the perpetuation of existing control. That is a really important point, because it distorts what a free market can offer, including in respect of new entrants. Conversely, however, the Minister made the point that Northern Ireland is outside the remit of the statutory instrument. Pre-covid, there was a fledgling service from Manchester, for example, to the airport in Derry. The flight to Belfast City has been taken off. I have some interest, because I have used those flights in the past. The point I want raise is that, as we have seen the collapse of some individual airlines or routes, those slots will be reallocated. How does the Minister see the process of reallocation taking place? The hon. Member for South Thanet is absolutely right that we have to create the capacity for innovators to come in. It is not the large carriers that look for those new routes; they want to stick with their traditional routes as they know how to make money on those. They leave it to the marginal airlines to look for the new slots. How that will be done is therefore an important issue.

Looking again at the Manchester picture, at one time we had flights from Manchester to Heathrow, Gatwick and London City. Of those, only the Heathrow service now exists. People might say, “Yes, you can travel from Manchester to London,” but if people want to travel onward and use global services, which are served by Gatwick in particular, it is necessary to make alternative arrangements. That is not good in terms of the national interest, and it makes the question of slots really important.

I want to ask the Minister whether he can look slightly beyond the remit of this present SI, which does have an end date, at what the picture will look like and at how we will make sure that the challenge comes into the existing big operators in a way that begins to make sure that we move towards a national strategic market-based solution to national needs.

Finally, we know that at the moment flight is one of the major contributors to climate change. Obviously slot allocation can be part of a process of trying to ensure that we move towards more efficient aircraft. What thought has the Minister and his colleagues put into the question of how slot allocation can be part of helping the industry move towards the lower-offending aircraft that we need to see in our skies?

Oral Answers to Questions

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Thursday 29th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

What steps he is taking to increase passenger numbers on the rail network.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Chris Heaton-Harris)]

We are working with the rail industry to develop a number of recovery initiatives focused on restoring passenger confidence in travelling by rail.

[Tony Lloyd [V]]

Any steps to encourage people post covid to regard rail travel as safe have to be welcomed, but would the Minister recognise that the very poor quality of the train service between Rochdale and Manchester, for example, a major community route—poor- quality trains, unreliable service—is a handicap both to commuters and to the economic development of the town of Rochdale? What is going to be done about that in the short term? We need the Government to act.

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. Actually a huge amount is being done while there are fewer passengers on our network. When passengers return to travelling, hopefully, as they previously did between Rochdale and Manchester, I would like to think that they will not find a Pacer train being used, because they have been replaced by a new fleet, and that they will find these trains in spotless condition, because they are unbelievably clean. We are also working, and there has been a big consultation, as he will know, to sort out some of the very big structural problems that we have with, for example, the Castlefield corridor and the timetabling of trains through it. We are trying to have short, medium and long-term solutions to this very thorny problem, which will guarantee much better service in the long run.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Thursday 11th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

The £2.8 billion referred to earlier is designed to do exactly that—for example, investment in a megafactory or a gigafactory to produce those batteries, which is one of the largest components of bringing down the price so that cars are affordable. It is also worth considering that we already have more rapid chargers per 100 miles driven than any country in the EU.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State will know that during the covid pandemic, the number of people using bus transportation has fallen dramatically, partly because of people’s fears, but partly because of the social distancing rules. Does that not make it astonishing that, in the middle of its industrial dispute with Unite the Union, Go North West is now packing its buses to shove passengers in? What will be done to increase bus transportation post covid? Will the Secretary of State have a word with the management of Go North West to insist that it does not put passengers’ lives at risk?

[Grant Shapps]

I thank the hon. Gentleman. I am not familiar with that situation, so I am grateful to him for bringing it to my attention, and I assure him that I will look into it this afternoon. On the wider point, he is right to say that right now people are being told to stay at home and avoid travelling. We must do a lot of work to encourage people back on to our public transport—it is important we do that—and as I have hinted to others, he will not have to wait long for a national bus strategy, which I hope will answer all his questions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Thursday 1st March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

First, I want to put on the record again my commitment to making sure that Stoke is in receipt of an HS2 service when the route opens. The local authority’s plans for Stoke station are very exciting and I want to work on them with my hon. Friend and the local authority.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

T9. The western side of the M60, in the process of the upgrading to the smart motorway system, has seen congestion, gridlock and horror for commuting traffic on a daily basis. Even now, the 50 mph limit remains in place. When will we see progress?

[Chris Grayling]

I know that these works have taken longer than intended. I have spoken to Highways England and we want to get this situation resolved as quickly as possible. It is certainly the case—I speak as somebody who travels from time to time to Old Trafford—that the area is surrounded by roadworks on the motorway and the work on the new extension to the Metrolink. I hope the hon. Gentleman will acknowledge, however, that this is a sign that the Government are making sure there is investment in, and resource provided to, Manchester, where transport investment on this scale has not happened for a long time.

Rail Update

Tony Lloyd Excerpts

Monday 5th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

I am very clear that when the great western franchise is let, it has got to be based to a much greater degree on quality. As my hon. Friend will be aware, we are consulting on the possibility of having a separate south-western franchise. I am looking forward to hearing responses on that—I am open-minded about it—but I am clear that the next great western franchise has got to deliver better and more innovative services for people in the south-west. It is why, for example, we are now working with Great Western with a view to reintroducing a passenger service to Okehampton, which is something there is a clear opportunity for.

[Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State was very casual in dismissing the comment of my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn (David Hanson). People who use the west coast main line feel that it is very expensive, because there is so little competition. During this period, when he has imposed a new contract, what will he do to guarantee that there is value for money and that we will not simply see ticket prices go up, when they should be going down?

[Chris Grayling]

All I can say, again, is that this railway line is well used and has seen an increase in passenger growth and customer satisfaction—it is the highest-rated railway in the country. I never want to see fares go up, but pay rises happen each year and there are costs to meet. Therefore, I am not offering a cut in fares, but we will operate a tight regime around the franchise to make sure it is not abused.