Integrated Rail Plan: Northern Powerhouse Area

Lord Horam Excerpts

Thursday 16th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Horam (Con)]

My Lords, my first trans-Pennine rail journey took place when I was seven. I was living in Preston and my parents decided to send me to school in Wakefield so for the next 10 years I spent rail journeys shuttling backwards and forwards over the Pennines between Lancashire and Yorkshire. Subsequently I became the Member of Parliament for Gateshead West and got to know the east coast line. After that I was a Transport Minister in James Callaghan’s Government and got to know the whole network. More recently, this last year, I was shuttling around the Manchester conurbation on trains going to the party conference and visiting my relatives, family and friends in that area. So, I come at this from that particular committed northern point of view.

The Minister will be glad to know that I therefore strongly and warmly welcome the plan. It seems to be extremely sensible. Of course, the response was subject to the usual political grandstanding, which I fully understand—people have to make their names and the local mayors have to say what they can. But if one wants an objective view, the Institute of Civil Engineers had it just about right when it said it was

“a step in the right direction”.

I was concerned, as many have been, that the huge cost of HS2 would gradually erode the necessary funds from all across the east-west connections and the local connections which the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, spoke so eloquently about. It seems that possibility has now lessened with this recalibration of the whole programme. I was surprised by what he said about the crucial east-west line between Liverpool, Warrington, Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York, because that is clearly inked in as an improvement. Bradford, which was neglected by HS2 itself, has an improvement in that the line between Leeds and Bradford is electrified and the time comes down to 12 minutes; we could hardly improve on that. All this has led to a much better scope for what we want in the east-west improvements.

The integration has been improved. It always seemed like the HS2 original plan was like a fork stuck up the middle of England without much connection with the rest of the network. All of that has been improved to the advancement of towns such as Derby and Nottingham. Finally, the whole thing has been brought forward in time. The original HS2 document planned no real improvements until 2040. Now we are promised at least 10 years earlier than that—I might live to see some of this myself for heaven’s sake—so that is a vast improvement.

The broad statement of the Institute of Civil Engineers about this being a move in the right direction is correct. But it also says that in the next 12 months there should be a detailed analysis and working out of what should happen. I hope that the Minister will commit the Government to doing that. It is essential that we now get a move on.

Bus Services Bill [HL]

Lord Horam Excerpts

3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 23rd November 2016 Lords Chamber

I point out to the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, that the amendment would place a considerable extra burden on private operators, particularly smaller ones. Of course, most of the companies that operate in London are major bus companies with garages in various other parts of the country, while that is not true for smaller operators. Has the noble Baroness thought about the additional burden that would be placed on such operators, and would she consider exempting operators with a significantly smaller number of vehicles from the amendment?

[Lord Horam (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness who proposed the amendment has the gift of coming up with interesting and appealing ideas, and this is one of them. I think that obviously we are all sympathetic to the issue of safety on buses; some instances recently, even in London, have been a matter of concern. I think also of the cycling situation in London, which is a problem. However, on this occasion I have to agree—they might be surprised to hear this—with the noble Lord, Lord Snape, and my noble friend Lord Attlee. There are problems in this area which are not solved by this rather heavy-handed approach, and there is a difference between the sort of situation you find yourself in with buses on the one hand and with rail on the other. Indeed, the noble Lord, Lord Snape, made the point that his own party is in favour of franchising when it comes to buses but against it when it comes to railways, so there are clearly differences in the way we approach these two important industries.

As someone who takes an interest in the Bill, I am also concerned that we get it off the ground. People who have followed the bus industry know that previous attempts to get franchising going in the rest of the country failed because of the complexity of the legislation. For example, Newcastle upon Tyne made a big effort to get franchising going but failed after many years of trying because of the complexity of the legislative procedures. I do not want this admirable Bill, which I fully support, to fall foul of the same problems. Let us please keep it as simple as possible. We have made amendments in this House which on the whole have been wise, and which I hope the Government will keep, as they have not been adverse to the spirit of the Bill. This may be music to the ears of my colleagues on the Front Bench: I hope that they do not mess around too much with it in another place. We should keep it where it is. It is a very good Bill. As my wife said the other day, I am a bit of a bus junkie. People are asked whether they travel on buses; I travel on buses all the time in London because they are so good. I want something similar to be available to residents in other parts of the country and I trust that this Bill will achieve that. I strongly support it and I do not want any further amendments to be made to it.

[Baroness Randerson (LD)]

My Lords, the recent tram tragedy should make us all think again about safety in general, and that should apply not just to franchised services but to partnerships and any kind of regular service run with some element of public money and with public support. I very much hope that the Minister will accept the principle of the amendment and acknowledge that there is an issue to be considered. I want to make it clear that I believe the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, is incorrect in trying to distinguish between different types of accidents—the causes of bus accidents can be just as complex. Speculation since the tram accident has shown us all that perhaps there was a long-term issue that could have been addressed by having a system akin to the one suggested here.

Bus Services Bill [HL]

Lord Horam Excerpts

Report: 1st sitting: House of Lords
Wednesday 12th October 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shipley]

I support this group of amendments. The issue is whether a distinction should be drawn between the powers of a mayoral combined authority and an ordinary combined authority, the difference between which is only whether an elected mayor chairs the authority’s meetings. A second issue is whether a distinction should be drawn between a mayoral combined authority and a county council or an integrated transport authority.

It is very difficult to see why the Government are drawing the distinction they are. It is also very difficult to see why other bodies with transport responsibilities are being excluded from an automatic right to propose a franchising scheme without the Secretary of State’s agreement. Devolution of power implies devolving that power and devolving responsibilities associated with it. I would be content with the right to propose franchises to be extended to authorities other than mayoral combined authorities.

My concern relates in part to a later amendment, Amendment 28, about the independence of the audit function. If we have a robust audit system in place to examine proposed franchising schemes, it is much easier to allow other authorities, beyond mayoral combined authorities, to propose the franchising route. If a local transport body feels that franchising is right for it, and if it is subject to that rigorous independent scrutiny, it should be allowed to proceed.

There is an issue about the future of elected mayors where some combined authorities have turned into mayoral combined authorities and others have not. There could well be a change of heart within the Government anyway about the application of elected mayors—whether they will be compulsory in areas with substantial devolved powers. We are writing now into legislation that the extra powers that go with the right to franchise can go only to mayoral combined authorities, when not all combined authorities may end up being mayoral.

I hope that the Minister will look carefully at this because there is a very strong case to extend the power to franchise to authorities other than just mayoral combined authorities.

[Lord Horam (Con)]

My Lords, I am a very strong supporter of the Bill and, like the previous speaker, I do not see why its benefits should be confined to mayoral combined authorities—why other authorities such as county councils cannot automatically invoke a franchise in the same way as mayoral combined authorities. That argument, which was stated at some length in Committee, has only been added to in the intervening time. First, we have Brexit, which means that there is far more for the Government to do than was ever envisaged when the Bill was first thought of; and, secondly, there has been a change of government, which means that there is perhaps less drive for the mayoral combined authorities, as opposed to other authorities, then under the previous regime. For both those reasons, we should think again about this proposal and widen it as far as possible so that everyone has the opportunity to franchise. After all, we all want bus services to be better, and this is a way to do it.

I hope that the Government will think again, either here or in another place, about taking a more relaxed attitude to the clause.

[Lord Snape]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord. I was around in the 1970s, when he was a Transport Minister in a Labour Government. I do not remember him being quite as radical in those days, although he has been around the political spectrum quite a bit since. It is a change to hear him advocating greater participation for local authorities, which, as far as I remember, was not at the top of his list when he was a junior Transport Minister in the 1970s. That is a change, although I have to concede that I have changed myself. I have never been in favour of franchising and I have made it quite plain in the debates in your Lordships’ House. Because of the time factor I will not repeat anything that I have said before, but in some ways I must congratulate my noble friend on the Front Bench. If this amendment becomes law he will have, in effect, repealed the Transport Act 1985. I am not sure what the noble Lord opposite will feel about that. We moved from a regulated system to deregulation, and presumably through this amendment we will be moving back to a more regulated system.

When the Bill was first published, combined authorities with a mayor were the only ones with the right to apply for franchise. Since then, at least under this amendment, that has been widened enormously. To quote my noble friend, or misquoting him perhaps, it seems to me that every local authority that feels that franchising would be suitable is entitled to so apply. All God’s children, presumably, can have a franchise if that is what they want. All I can say to him is that if he talks to the industry at large, it will say that such a widening of the existing proposals would mean a drying-up of investment in the bus industry and certainly a massive recruitment campaign in local government.

A franchise operation cannot be run on the basis of one director. He or she will need a complete department. There will need to be bus and crew rosters. Obviously the existing ones are not satisfactory, otherwise the local authority would not be seeking a franchise in the first place. It is a great job-creation scheme but at the same time it will have the impact of drying up investment in buses. Again, without repeating anything I said earlier, it would be difficult to persuade a finance director of a private company—that is what we are talking about as far as buses are concerned—to invest millions of pounds in a bus fleet if some local authority or town hall throughout the country is going to say how much to charge and where to run those buses. Life is not like that.

I have yet to hear from either side of your Lordships’ House the passenger view on the future of the industry. When Passenger Focus carried out such a survey couple of years ago, more than 80% of bus passengers expressed their satisfaction with the system as it was at present. It is possibly apparent that I have been around a long time—as a Member of this House and the other place, and a bus company director and chairman—and I have yet to hear a passenger say, “This service is so bad I want the town hall to run it”. That has never happened in my experience, although perhaps my noble friend on the Front Bench knows differently.

If this amendment is carried and becomes law, it will be bad for the industry and I do not see any great benefit for passengers. For that reason I am afraid that I cannot support it.

Queen’s Speech

Lord Horam Excerpts

Thursday 5th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Horam (Con)]

My Lords, I pay great respect to the campaigning zeal of the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, on climate change and the environment. If I may say so, I share her concern for the environment. I was for six years the chairman of the Environmental Audit Committee in the other place. I hope that we managed to push climate change a little bit up the media agenda during that time. As it happens, I was born in the Bowland area of Lancashire, where fracking for gas has had its first trials. I have therefore studied the issue rather more closely than I have others.

I have to say that although I respect the point of view of the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, I fundamentally disagree with her on fracking. It seems to me that it will actually lead to greater energy security for this country, it will help with fuel poverty and it will help by creating a new industry—and we badly need to rebalance the economy. It will also help with climate change. One can argue about that, but I think that the dash for gas did help with climate change in the past and this will help in the future. Looking at the local situation in that rather beautiful part of the country, the Bowland area of Lancashire, it would do no more damage to the immediate aesthetic of the environment than do electric pylons and wind farms, to take two examples.

Therefore, I support my noble friend’s remarks in his opening speech and what the Government are doing on new measures to help fracking. I was glad to hear from the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, in his opening speech, that the Labour Party also supports this. It is profoundly in our national interest that the reserves underneath our feet should be exploited, whichever party is in power, frankly.

One thing I liked about the Queen’s Speech was that it was relatively short. I am all in favour of brevity—I hope I do not disprove that with the length of my speech now—particularly in legislation. This may be a product of advancing age but I like to think it is actually a product of advancing wisdom. If we have fewer Bills—I think 11 are promised in this Session of Parliament, although no doubt there will be a certain amount of creep in addition to that—against 28 in the previous Session, which is quite a reduction, it means that Bills can be both better drafted and better scrutinised by your Lordships’ House. I also think it will mean less time spent by Ministers rushing around dealing with issues in Parliament and more time for good governance.

It is good governance that really matters in this country at the moment. More than ever, if we look at the global situation with China, Russia, India and so forth developing as they are, the UK needs excellent governance and I believe that in the present coalition we have a good, radical, progressive Government who are doing broadly the right thing. An example of that is how on the very first day of the Queen’s Speech debate they have flagged up the issues of infrastructure, transport, energy and local government that are at the heart of the need to improve things—as the noble Lord, Lord Birt, and others said in the debate—together with skills and education. They are the twin tracks of necessary improvement which we need to grasp very firmly.

As regards transport, first, I am delighted that my noble friend Lady Kramer has at last got a task worthy of her talents and that she has thrown herself into it with such evident enthusiasm. I am a strong supporter of HS2, at least partly because, as I said, I am from the north of England originally. I was born in Lancashire, educated in Yorkshire and for 13 years I represented a constituency in the north-east of England. I am a sort of northern mongrel, but I therefore claim to have some understanding of the problems of the north. Transport-wise, what the north needs is good connections with the Midlands and the south. Good connections will enhance people’s confidence in that part of the world in building businesses in the north.

At the moment, rail capacity is strained to the limit and, indeed, beyond. There are queues at Euston and King’s Cross at certain times of the day. There is no doubt that we need new capacity and that, just as Ernest Marples, many years ago, started building the new motorways separate from the old trunk roads, we should build a new rail route that is distinct from the old Victorian lines. There is really no alternative.

None the less, I am conscious of the demands which HS2 will make on the communities and individuals affected by the route, and I believe that the Government should be generous in those circumstances—they never have been generous enough in the past—in terms of both mitigation measures and, where necessary, compensation. The only thing I found odd about the recent review by Sir David Higgins is that he thought that the link between HS1 and HS2 at Euston and St Pancras should be reconsidered. That baffles me. I thought that part of the point was that you could get on a train in Birmingham and get off at Brussels. Nigel Farage may not agree, but to me that makes total sense. I hope that my noble friend will reconsider that and keep it in the programme.

In addition to greater rail capacity, we need more motorways and trunk roads. On a journey to the Ribble Valley up the M6 in the recess, I was struck once again by how the slightest hiccup—a small accident or some roadworks—can reduce the traffic to a stationary state for mile after mile. Many motorways are now often a nightmare to travel on. I am not an advocate of predict and provide but, none the less, we need more provision. I was pleased by the sentence in the Queen’s Speech on that and by the further details indicated by my noble friend in his opening speech, although I have to say that the point about the A14 made by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, is absolutely relevant. I opened the Cambridge section of the A14 when I was a Minister for Transport 25 years ago, one grim pre-Christmas day, and it has crawled and stuttered along since then.

Then there is the thorny question of London’s airport capacity. Obviously my noble friend will not be able to say much about that because the situation is under review, but from the perspective of someone who is not only a northerner but has been an MP for a London constituency during my career and has run an international business from London, I have no doubt that we need a third runway at Heathrow.

I was in Dubai recently. Dubai has recently taken over from Heathrow as the busiest international airport. Paul Griffiths, the English managing director of Dubai Airport, has taken it to the top in seven years and is worth listening to on the subject of the third runway. His opinion is that Heathrow must have a third runway, even though it will mean more competition for Dubai. He said in the Sunday Times recently:

“Britain needs it, and Heathrow is the right place for it. It is close to London and close to all the major motorways. An airport”—

this is significant—

“is only as good as its ground transport links”.

I hope that Sir Howard Davies and my noble friend are listening. Again, one has to be sympathetic to local noise problems, and really good compensation—I hear talk of 25% above pre-blighted market value—is the right approach.

Finally, I turn to housing, which has been much commented on during our debate. The Government’s Help to Buy scheme has undoubtedly kick-started construction, and I also support garden cities, but those initiatives by themselves and the other small ones cannot hope to fill the gap of about 200,000 homes a year that we need. That can come only from a concerted, Government-led effort involving housing associations and local councils. More than two years ago I wrote a memo for the Government advocating that they emulate the 1951 Conservative Government, when Harold Macmillan was appointed Housing Minister and given the target by Winston Churchill of building 300,000 houses a year—it seems a miracle, does it not?—which he achieved in three years. Incidentally, Britain’s debt to GDP ratio at the time was 200%, so no excuses there.

Obviously, I accept that things have changed a lot since 1954 when Harold Macmillan achieved all that. The planning laws, in particular, have become much more complex, but as one who started a successful housing association back in the 1970s, I know what can be done if the political will is there and the incentives for housing associations and local councils are structured in the right way. I very much hope that the Government will bring forward an initiative of that kind in the not-too-distant future so that we can look at it in the context of the next general election.

So there are holes in the Government’s programme—in particular, on Heathrow and on housing—but, broadly speaking, they are moving the country in the right direction. All I can say is: please get a move on.