Queen’s Speech

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Wednesday 25th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Randerson (LD)]

My Lords, it seems that you wait years for a transport Bill and then three come along together. I congratulate the Minister on his powers of persuasion, as I know how difficult it is to insert Bills into the Queen’s Speech. After the disappointment of last year, when we waited all year for a Bill on buses which never turned up, it is heartening to see that we will be off promptly after the recess with the Second Reading of the Bus Services Bill. As we will therefore have our chance to set out our views on that issue soon, I will say very little about it now, beyond saying that I welcome the Bill. It is a long overdue opportunity to deal with the problems created across the country, outside London, by the deregulation of bus services. That reform was the first major issue I dealt with as a member of the transport committee of Cardiff council, my very first role as an elected member, at a time when I was a young mother. It has taken far too long to address those issues, and I believe that there is fairly broad agreement with the general direction of the Bill. However, I urge the Government to take the opportunity to set the pace on this. We are now well into the 21st century and need to create a comprehensive modern transport network.

To be successful, the new regime needs to go further than planned to attract new passengers, and therefore needs to encourage young people to use buses and ensure all buses are accessible for people with disabilities. It needs to achieve the lowest possible emission levels. The air quality emergency that we face in our urban areas is so severe that we are well past the time when decisions on this can be voluntary. There is a major role for government in ensuring that our buses reach the highest air quality standards. We remain to be convinced that this Bill will address the bus crisis that is hitting so many rural areas.

I was delighted to hear Her Majesty say that there will be a modern transport Bill. The Government are right to seek to keep us at the forefront of technological developments and there are thorny issues to be grappled with, such as the way we insure driverless cars and data protection and security. For example, who will own and control the information on where I have travelled to in my autonomous vehicle? These vehicles promise a brave new world where we no longer need to own our own car, but the Government need to tackle the way in which we use such vehicles from the start, by encouraging carpooling via legislation for instance. We do not have the luxury of time. The revolution is happening right now on the streets of Bristol, Greenwich, Milton Keynes and Coventry.

I have raised before in this House my frustration that the Government have been so slow in dealing with the challenges raised by drone technology. The news last week about the use of drones to smuggle drugs and weapons into prisons highlights the fact that better regulation is overdue, so I welcome the inclusion of drones in this Bill. There are big issues about safety and security as well as privacy.

My disappointment comes with the Government’s limited understanding of the phrase “modern transport”. It should be about so much more than drones and spaceports, exciting as they are. As Lib Dems, we would like to see such a Bill encompassing all the strategic objectives of a modern sustainable transport system. Any traveller in Britain today knows that we patently do not have transport infrastructure fit for the 21st century. It is the fault of successive Governments. The future prosperity of our nation is at stake on this, so we need a modern transport Bill that sets out a comprehensive strategy. If you are standing on the 7.15 am into Euston with hardly room to breathe, you are not thinking about the site for a spaceport—you have heavier things on your mind. The Government need to address the daily grind of commuting because that is what will really sharpen the edge of our economy. The environment must be at the heart of our modern infrastructure.

I urge the Government to widen the modern transport Bill to use it to build the infrastructure required for the widespread use of electric vehicles. Three experts have so far told me that we do not have sufficient electricity capacity for all the electric vehicles that will be on our roads in the near future. It is a lengthy process to expand the electricity supply. Of course, there are alternatives to electricity for vehicles, but they are zero-emission in the place where we need it: on the streets of our towns.

We also need a modern, sustainable approach to air travel and airports. It is ironic that we will have a Bill that deals with spaceports when the Government cannot decide whether it should be Heathrow or Gatwick. In the meantime, the Government need to be preparing our important aviation industry for the future, and I urge them to broaden the modern transport Bill to include measures to encourage the production and use of biofuels for aviation. We are way behind our competitors on this vital issue.

It is important that I finish by celebrating our strong aviation industry; its leaders have made it clear how important it is for them and their employees that we remain in the EU. I urge the Government to look very much more broadly in the way in which they consider the idea of modern transport.