Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to nationalise the East Coast mainline.

The Secretary of State has been clear in his statement to Parliament that his decision on which option to take when establishing the next operator will be made in accordance with the following key principles:

1. Protecting the interests of passengers.
2. Preserving the interests of taxpayers, by ensuring value for money.
3. Supporting investment and improvement in the railway, including the deployment of the new InterCity Express trains on the East Coast mainline.

The decision will be taken in a transparent way; the Department’s assessment of the option will be published and it will be properly validated.

The Department is developing plans to introduce the East Coast Partnership (ECP) - the first of the new generation of long term regional partnerships that will bring together the operation of track and train for the benefit of passengers. The ECP will be a partnership between the public sector and a private partner; the private partner will be procured through a competitive process in order to ensure the best outcomes for passengers and value for money for taxpayers. The ECP will build on the best of the public and private sectors, with private sector involvement bringing innovation, investment and competition.