Avanti West Coast
Debate between Baroness Winterton of Doncaster and Trudy Harrison(2 years, 3 months ago)
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Trudy Harrison
This Government are absolutely backing the rail sector, with more than £90 billion being invested in the integrated rail service. Great British Railways will seek to address many of these challenges, not least the modernisation of the workforce, which is absolutely necessary. I have absolutely not condemned the workers for this situation, but the fact remains that workers have been willing to work on their rest days for something like 20 years and they are no longer willing to do so, certainly with Avanti. We need to find a solution to that challenge, working with the unions but also recruiting more drivers and a more diverse set of drivers, and ensuring that we have drivers who are trained to safely, affordably and reliably operate the train service we all want—particularly this Conservative Government.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)
I thank the Minister for answering the urgent question.