Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his oral contribution of 4 June 2018, Official Report, column 56, if he will make it his policy to establish a public service operator to carry out his duties as Operator of Last Resort in the event of a GTR franchise termination; and if he will make a statement.

As my Rt Hon Friend said in his statement to the House on 4 June it is vital to get back to stability as quickly as possible and investigate what went wrong. We do not wish to pre-empt the findings of those investigations which was commissioned or act in haste. Once the enquiries have concluded we will take the most appropriate decision and use the full power of the franchise agreement and legislation if needed.