(10 years, 4 months ago)
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Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)
My first duty is to welcome the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Claire Perry), to her new place on the Front Bench. I wish her well. I know that she will not want to let her colleagues down—no pressure. Madam Deputy Speaker, with your permission, my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) will also contribute to the debate. The Minister has given her consent.
My constituency, despite having 10 railway stations, the largest port complex in the country and an international airport, does not have the best transport links and certainly needs improved rail connections if it is to maximise the potential for economic growth. The Government have indicated on many occasions the importance they place on northern Lincolnshire and the wider Humber area. It has been acknowledged that the area has great economic potential. Siemens has already confirmed its investment on the north bank. The massive development by Able UK is going through its final planning stages. I hope that that major scheme will start in the not too distant future. It has the potential to create thousands of jobs and no one, least of all the Government, would want to put those jobs at risk.
As I have pointed out, northern Lincolnshire does not have good rail connections. We have had no through services to London since 1992, although the open-access operator Alliance Rail Holdings has an application with the rail regulator at the moment. The proposal is for four services each day in both directions and I urge the Minister to consider the proposal carefully with a view to doing all she can to allow it to go ahead as quickly as possible.
Our main link to the rest of the network is provided by First TransPennine Express, which operates an hourly service between Cleethorpes and Manchester 15 times a day, plus an additional one that finishes its journey in Sheffield. It is those services that are central to this debate as one of the proposals is to end the through service and to replace it with services all of which will terminate in either Sheffield or, more likely, Doncaster.
The argument is that not enough people travel the full length of the route. If that is what the Department for Transport is to hang its proposal on, it must come clean. How many passengers travel the full distance between Euston and Glasgow: 20%, or perhaps 40%? How many travel the full distance between King’s Cross and Edinburgh? Many will get off at York or Newcastle, or indeed at Doncaster because they want to get to Cleethorpes. The Department cannot hide behind the phrase “commercial confidentiality”. It cannot release just the figures that support its argument, but must release all of them. Will the Minister agree to release the figures—yes or no?
I also draw the Minister’s attention to the role in the process of Rail North, a consortium of local authorities across the north of England with the aim of devolving decision making. That sounds fine and like something we could all agree with until we look at the make-up of Rail North, which is dominated by the big cities and passenger transport executives. Councils such as North East Lincolnshire might have signed up to the broad principles, but I am sure that they did not intend that their voice in determining the services that serve their area should be silenced or ignored. What they have at the moment is the equivalent of a vote at the annual general meeting.
I do not want to be too hard on Rail North, as we can all sign up to its key objectives as outlined in the consultation, in particular paragraph 12, which outlines the three key points. The first is to support economic growth by delivering more rail capacity and better rail connectivity. The second is to improve the quality of the railways in the north, with a better offer for passengers to encourage more use.
Austin Mitchell (Great Grimsby) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on raising this issue, which is uniting the whole of south Humberside and north Lincolnshire, or northern Lincolnshire, whichever we care to call it. Its political forces are all here; our mighty forces in flesh assembled to oppose this consultation proposal. I hope that I can encourage him to criticise Rail North, but I want to express my support for the view that the direct service from Cleethorpes to Manchester airport should not be cut off in the way that the consultation paper proposes. The transfer of the modern class 170 units to Chiltern to give southerners a more comfortable ride while we are put in cattle transport should be opposed. It is quite right to raise the question of the direct service to London and the electrification of the line, but the main thing now is to stop a service that is bad being made worse by this consultation document.
Martin Vickers
I entirely agree with the hon. Gentleman. As he points out, we are, as northern Lincolnshire, united in our opposition to the proposal to withdraw the Manchester services.
Let me return to Rail North’s objectives. Its third is to deliver a more efficient railway and to secure greater value for money for the support from the public purse. I point out that the north does not just mean the major centres of population in Leeds, Sheffield and the north-west. I support the Government’s policies to strengthen and expand the economies of the north based on city regions, but there is a danger that the focus can too often be on Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and so on. That is all very well, but if northern Lincolnshire is to receive maximum benefit from the investment in the renewables sector, and much of that is taxpayers’ money, we need good rail connections to a growing number of major centres.
I was pleased that the senior civil servant from the Department for Transport confirmed to the Select Committee on 30 June that the Secretary of State would make the final decision, although at this week’s meeting of the Committee, Passenger Focus was clearly concerned that this might be a ritual signing-off. As far as I am concerned, if the Secretary of State has to sign it, the Secretary of State is responsible, and I will continue to bombard him and my hon. Friend the Minister with questions and correspondence at every opportunity to stress the importance of this vital service to Cleethorpes and northern Lincolnshire. What I and my constituents want is for this proposal to be killed off quickly. I recognise that the Department must consider all options, but some can quickly be consigned to the waste bin.
Paragraph 2 on page 6 of the consultation refers to the importance of
“views from passengers who travel on the Northern and TPE”—
that is, TransPennine Express—
“franchises, as well as from other members of the public”.
I can assure the Minister that she will be hearing from the travelling public in great numbers, thanks to the campaign being run by the Grimsby Telegraph and the Scunthorpe Telegraph, which have been inviting readers to complete a petition form and to date have received over 4,000 completed forms.
I put on record my thanks to the Secretary of State, who will be meeting me and the editor of the Grimsby Telegraph tomorrow morning to receive the petition forms. This, though, will not end the campaign as I will deliver further petitions in the weeks to come and urge local residents and businesses to continue completing them and to submit their own response to the consultation, highlighting the impact on their own circumstances.
The consultation document repeatedly draws attention to the potential for economic growth and the need to use rail services to drive that growth. Table 1.1 on page 11 states that one of the objectives of the franchise is to
“help the economy of the north of England to thrive by offering competitive inter-regional rail services between urban centres, providing sufficient passenger capacity and expanding rail’s mode share.”
It goes on to state that a further objective is to
“realise the benefits from rail investment in the north of England, ensuring the successful delivery of journey time, frequency, reliability and connectivity benefits for passengers.”
These statements are, of course, motherhood and apple pie—we can all sign up to them. Can the Minister explain how, if inter-regional rail services are essential for the northern economy to thrive, the Government intend to achieve this by proposing an end to the one inter-regional service that northern Lincolnshire has?
I draw the Minister’s attention to paragraph 2.19 which states:
“The growing demand for air travel will also drive increases in the number of rail journeys. In particular, by 2020 passenger numbers are expected to increase by 5 million at Manchester Airport compared with 2010, an important destination for rail travellers in the North.”
Manchester has become the airport of choice for many of my constituents simply because of the direct through trains. How can the Minister square that statement with the proposal to end through services to that very airport?
Paragraph 2.27 states that TransPennine Express has one of the newest fleets of any train operator. Can the Minister assure the House that, whatever the configuration of services and whichever company provides services to Cleethorpes, the new franchise will specify that the quality of rolling stock will be at least equivalent to the class 185 units currently in use? If the proposal that trains start and terminate at Doncaster is introduced, it is suggested that the Northern service from Sheffield to Scunthorpe be extended to Cleethorpes. That service stops at all stations. It would be totally unsatisfactory and would have to be more regular than the current hourly service, alternating fast and stopping services.
Having spoken to many involved in the rail industry, I recognise some of the difficulties. Indeed, some result from the success of this Government’s massive investment in the rail network. As more and more of the network is electrified, there is a temptation to treat the more peripheral areas as mere feeder services into the core electric network, but that is no help to the economy of those areas. More electrification means there are fewer diesel units both on the existing network and being manufactured. How best to make use of the available units is a conundrum for the Department, but not one to be resolved at the expense of my constituents.
I have referred to the Government’s repeated statements that economic growth is increased where good rail connectivity exists. This was again acknowledged by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor in his northern powerhouse speech only two or three weeks ago. It may be opportune at this point to emphasise the importance of the area now, even before potential expansion is considered. That is why, I am pleased to say, that both North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire councils will be fighting this proposal vigorously, and Councillor Liz Redfern, the leader of North Lincolnshire, contacted me this morning to report that the council has agreed to a joint campaign with North East Lincolnshire and that they have committed to a feasibility study on the potential to electrify the 50 miles of track between Cleethorpes and Doncaster—something the Government ought to be supporting. Perhaps they would like to contribute.
Twenty-five per cent. of the freight tonnage moved by rail starts or ends in Immingham. The Humber local enterprise partnership predicts that investment linked to renewables and regeneration could result in up to £7 billion of further investment across the Humber. More than 30% of the UK’s coal and an increasing amount of the biomass to fuel power stations passes through Immingham, and approximately 27% of UK oil refining capacity is provided by refineries at Immingham. The port handles 10% of the UK’s seaborne trade amounting to 50 million tonnes annually, including 30 million tonnes of coal and petroleum. I recognise that rail freight companies, because they move goods to so many different locations, do not always benefit as much from electrification, but with more and more of the network now electrified the case for electrification into Immingham and the remaining few miles to Grimsby and Cleethorpes is more compelling.
To return to the Chancellor’s powerhouse speech, he pointed out that the Yorkshire and Humberside region was where construction is strongest. He also spoke of the economic advantages of developing clusters and, as the Government have previously acknowledged, northern Lincolnshire and the Humber is where the renewables cluster is taking place.
I am sure that my hon. Friend the Minister will have noticed one very important passage in the Chancellor’s speech when he said that
“we cleaned polluted rivers like the Mersey and the Humber. Now we should take the next steps in improving them and making them great places for leisure and tourism and natural beauty.”
As I have said on more than one occasion in this Chamber, Cleethorpes is the premier resort of the east coast. No one has ever contradicted that statement and I am sure they will not this evening. I suspect that the Chancellor was unaware of the existence of this consultation document when he delivered his speech, but I hope he has had his attention drawn to the letter from me and my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole pointing out the inherent contradictions of developing an area for tourism and withdrawing its main rail service.
I appreciate that the Minister will be in a difficult position in replying to this debate because she will not want to pre-empt the outcome of the consultation, but she can give an absolute reassurance that the essential points from this debate will be considered in detail by all the relevant Departments involved in the development and regeneration of the northern economies, and if she will emphasise the unique circumstances that prevail in northern Lincolnshire the debate will have been worth while.
There are other issues to be considered. The Cleethorpes to Barton service, one that is essential to the outlying areas, is something of an anomaly. It is part of the existing Northern franchise but entirely cut off from the rest of its network and is crewed by TransPennine. Yes, it could be operated by East Midlands, which currently operates between Grimsby and Newark via Lincoln. All I will say is that I and my constituents will want an assurance that it will not be treated as an inconvenient Cinderella service but as an essential part of the network.
We do not want a return to the days of British Rail when we had a slow, stopping service to Doncaster with a few trains that continued beyond that. It was intermittent, slow and uncomfortable. The arrival of TransPennine transformed the situation. In May, I was invited to a photo-shoot at Cleethorpes station to celebrate the improved services and the provision of an extra 90,000 seats in the summer timetable. If we lose our Manchester service, the economy of the area will suffer, not just new burgeoning businesses but traditional ones in Cleethorpes that serve the tourist trade. We need as many services from as many different locations as possible.
I know that the Minister shares my passion for providing good rail services because the edition of “Marlborough News Online” on 27 June—just three weeks ago—said that she had written to the then rail Minister, telling him that she and her constituents were “horrified” by the options offered in his Department’s consultation on services to her constituency. She continued:
“I cannot stress enough, the importance of fast and frequent rail links to my Constituents”,
and rounded off her comments by stating that the two options would almost certainly mean people leaving the area
“with catastrophic effects on the local economy.”
With an ally like my hon. Friend in the Department, I am sure all will be well.
It seems that the rail industry is like politics. Change can come quickly. Someone wakes up as a Whip and goes to bed as the rail Minister, with the ability not only to save their own constituents from a decline in services, but those in northern Lincolnshire as well. My hon. Friend has come along at just the right time; the Government have a good record on rail investment, allowing train operators to provide improved services, and they now have a chance to prove that to the people I represent. I urge the Minister to visit North East Lincolnshire on 18 October—that is what her predecessor had agreed to do—and act quickly to remove this threat, recognise the strength of feeling in the House and in northern Lincolnshire, and announce, if not tonight then very soon, that this particular proposal has hit the buffers.
Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)
My hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) has proved by his speech what a better friend he is than enemy. He has done a great deal of local research on the new rail Minister, and her words could also be applied to our situation. I will make a short contribution, and begin by welcoming the new Minister. I am genuinely delighted that she has been promoted to this position. She was kind to me when I was first elected and we were new boys and girls, and she has been extremely kind and pleasant ever since.
I agree entirely with the comments by my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes, and wish to make a couple of additional points. My constituency is the most western part of northern Lincolnshire, and the area closest to Manchester, so connectivity west is as important as connectivity east. It is not far to Manchester from that area, and retaining that link west is important, not least because Manchester airport is our regional airport. We might prefer to have a bigger regional airport, but Manchester is our biggest and very much our local airport.
When I talk to businesses, there is genuine concern that losing that connectivity west could be damaging to local businesses. One business said to me recently that it really struggles to convince people that our area is not the end of the line, and that it is a place where people should and can live because of that connectivity. The proposal is potentially very damaging to that.
I will not say much more, other than to do a quick name check for my local newspapers, thereby assuring me of getting in them next week. The Grimsby Telegraph and the Scunthorpe Telegraph are doing an excellent job on this matter, as is The Epworth Bells. This is an important issue, and the Chancellor’s words about east-west connectivity were important. We could not put a fag paper between his words and our aspirations for our area. The proposal, however, goes in the opposite direction and I know that the rail Minister takes such matters seriously. I implore her to look at the proposals again and ensure that when the franchise tender comes out, we keep our direct rail services.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Claire Perry)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) for initiating this debate. He is a northern powerhouse in his own right, and has been an ardent campaigner on this issue, as have colleagues from across the House who represent constituencies in that area. He has impressed on my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond)—who I believe did a sterling job in this role—and on the Department, the importance that his constituents place on rail services in northern Lincolnshire. I am happy to say that the Government recognise the importance of rail services in the north of England, and also in my fine constituency which, as my hon. Friend knows, I am proud to represent.
Rail services are vital nationally. As hon. Members will be aware, since privatisation the number of passengers on our rail network has doubled, with record numbers of people choosing to travel by train. Indeed, the rail network has not been this busy since the 1920s. This is particularly obvious in the north of England, where the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises have far exceeded the original expectations of passenger growth. We are now dealing with the challenges of success, with the increase in passenger numbers meaning that we need to provide capacity where it is most needed. That is a key concern.
Capacity constraints in the whole region have driven the Government to invest a very welcome £1 billion in electrification projects and the northern hub, which my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes mentioned. This programme will see improved services, increased capacity and reduced overcrowding across the north of England over the next five years, allowing for faster trains between the major northern cities and also benefiting freight, which he name-checked as being incredibly important. This investment will bring enormous benefits to the area and will complement the £104 million investment specifically for the Humber region that was announced as part of the local growth deal. In researching this today, I was particularly delighted to see that that money includes funding for a number of transport schemes, including funding for the Humber local enterprise partnership to further develop proposals for electrification between Hull and Selby.
The hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Austin Mitchell) alluded to the rolling stock transfer. My hon. Friend and hon. Members across the House will be pleased to hear that the Department has been working very closely with the train operating companies and the train leasing companies on the move of nine class 170 trains from TransPennine Express to Chiltern railways that is scheduled for April 2015. I am confident that we have developed a solution that will ensure that current capacity is maintained and that suitable and appropriate rolling stock will be provided for passengers in north Lincolnshire. I hope to make an announcement to that effect in due course.
As we heard, the lines in this area provide an incredibly important rail freight link, especially to and from the major port of Immingham. As my hon. Friend said, he estimates that 25% of all rail freight starts or ends his journey in his constituency. Recognising this, the Government have recently invested £45 million in the new Doncaster North chord. That will remove a significant bottleneck between the port and the power stations in the region, providing capacity and performance improvements for passenger and freight services and relieving pressure on the all-important east coast main line.
As we know, the Government have big ambitions for rail travel in the north. The prospectuses for the TransPennine Express and Northern franchises set out the transformation that we want to see. We are encouraging ambitious bids, and we want partners for the new franchises that have vision and the capability to deliver on that vision. They will need long-term plans for franchises that truly place passengers at the heart of their operation.
Nic Dakin
I fully associate myself with the comments by the hon. Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers), who set out the position very well. I congratulate him on securing the debate. The Minister will have noted the consternation of businesses and domestic users across northern Lincolnshire regarding this issue. I very much congratulate her on taking on this role, which is a well-deserved promotion. She will have been listening to the debate carefully and will want to reflect on it. I ask her, after that reflection, to meet the four MPs from northern Lincolnshire to consider the matter further so that we can properly represent the concerns that have been very fully expressed tonight.
Claire Perry
The hon. Gentleman, who I would like to call my hon. Friend given the nights we have spent counting votes together, raises the important issue of the representation of business and passengers. It would be a pleasure to meet the hon. Members representing this important area to discuss this further.
We need to ask not just Members here but all users of rail services in the region what they need and what matters to them. The consultation document launched last month does just that by inviting MPs, councils and all rail users—indeed, all interested parties—to tell us what matters to them. The questions raised in the consultation cover a large number of areas and set out some of the options we are considering for services on the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises. It is important to remember, however, that the consultation is a genuine one. We are a Government who believe in listening. No decisions have been made and there have been no backroom dealings, so the document is what it says on the tin—a consultation document. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said in a recent interview in that estimable publication, the Grimsby Telegraph, there is nothing sinister at all about the proposals. It is important that we are able to ask all sorts of questions and listen to the answers that people provide. As he said:
“Quite often we’re accused of not asking and just acting. Now we’re asking, we’re getting into trouble for that as well.”
My hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes and the hon. Member for Great Grimsby asked about Rail North, which is an important partner both in the consultation process and in the long-term future of the operation of the franchises. I commend the local councils of the Members in the Chamber. The councils have been assiduous in campaigning for the rail links and will work hard throughout the consultation process. However, I emphasise that there is nothing to stop those councils, or indeed anybody, from putting their own consultation directly to the Department.
I appreciate that some of the questions we have asked, particularly those in relation to service changes from Cleethorpes to Manchester airport, have raised concerns and strong feelings from, I imagine, many of the 400,000 people who use Cleethorpes station every year, and who are represented well in the Chamber, but I believe it is a good thing to engender such reactions, because it shows the importance that people place on their rail services and that we are asking the right questions.
As we have said throughout the consultation document, we place a great deal of importance on the evidence and value the submissions. I encourage all hon. Members and their constituents, and anyone else with a strong view, to make it known before the consultation closes on 18 August.
My hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes asked specifically about passenger loading figures and the drop-off ratio between stations. I am happy to consider releasing such information to him. Perhaps he would be kind enough to drop me a note on specifically what he would like, and we will get to work on it.
It is clear from this evening’s debate that there is a great strength of feeling about rail services throughout the north of England and the country. I should take this opportunity to recognise again my hon. Friend’s assiduous campaign on behalf his constituents. I am sure I will discuss the subject with him on many other occasions and that I will receive many more submissions from him. I hope that strength of feeling translates into a large number of responses, which will allow the Government to deliver the improvements people want.
Question put and agreed to.