Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the decision of the Transport for the North Board to write to him requesting the end of the Avanti West Coast contract.

The challenges faced on the West Coast will remain regardless of the operator, including longstanding restrictive working practices which require the agreement of unions to amend. To place West Coast Partnership under the Operator of Last Resort would remove the opportunity to retain private sector expertise in both the West Coast as an operator and in the HS2 Shadow Operator function. A full response will be provided to the Transport for the North Board in due course.