Rail Investment and Integrated Rail Plan

Alan Campbell Excerpts

Wednesday 8th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson]

I thank my hon. Friend for that point. As he recognises, these plans deliver far more for towns on the existing railway line than was ever previously proposed, and therefore he will see significant investment in all the stations on his line.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bridgend (Dr Wallis) reminded us of some of the benefits of HS2 to Wales, with passengers from south Wales able to access HS2 services via Birmingham Curzon Street and passengers from north Wales becoming within two hours 15 minutes of London. As he knows, the current control period, control period 6, has seen a record £2 billion revenue settlement for Network Rail in Wales.

The hon. Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) called for more electrification. I agree with her. That is why I am proud that since 2010 we have electrified 1,221 miles of track, compared with just 63 miles under the 13 years of the last Labour Government. My hon. Friend the Member for Leigh (James Grundy) welcomed the investment in Golborne station and the Castlefield corridor improvements, while also again putting on record the concerns of his constituents about the Golborne spur. Thanks to my hon. Friend’s campaigning, and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington South (Andy Carter), those concerns have been heard loud and clear, and they know we are currently reflecting on alternatives.

The hon. Member for Preston (Sir Mark Hendrick) complained about the plans, even though for his constituency the current plans are pretty much the same as the previous plans. We will get on with our plans to deliver HS2 all the way into Manchester, reducing journey times from Preston to London from 128 minutes down to 78 minutes once HS2 is operational.

My hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Darren Henry) has been a tireless champion of his constituents, and I am pleased to have visited Toton with him.

[Sir Alan Campbell (Tynemouth) (Lab)]

claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36).

Question put forthwith, That the Question be now put.

Question agreed to.

Main Question accordingly put.

Rail Franchising

Alan Campbell Excerpts

Wednesday 10th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Alan Campbell (Tynemouth) (Lab)]

claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36).

Question put forthwith, That the Question be now put.

Question agreed to.

Main Question accordingly put.

Question agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House believes that rail franchising is failing to provide adequate services for passengers or value for money for taxpayers; notes that regulated rail fares have risen by 32 per cent since 2010 while planned investment has been cancelled; opposes the recent bail-out of Virgin Rail Group East Coast; and calls on the Government to run passengers’ services under public sector operation.

[Andy McDonald]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The motion has been passed unanimously by the House, demonstrating that the rail franchising system has failed and that the railways should be run by the public sector. When can we expect a statement from the Secretary of State to outline his plans for implementing the will of the House?

Tyne Marine Office

Alan Campbell Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck (South Shields) (Lab)]

South Shields has a proud maritime history, present, and, I hope, future. The shipping industry is a major employer in South Shields, its contribution to the industrial and social history of the region being well documented. As one seafarer commented to me, South Shields used to be the centre of the universe for the maritime industry.

The Tyne marine office was previously based at Compass House inside the port of Tyne. It provided seafarers and our local area with a range of vital services, including managing and issuing seafarers’ documentation, and conducting oral exams and eye tests. Our surveyors fulfilled the UK’s legal obligation to conduct port state control inspections of foreign-registered vessels working from our ports in the UK, as well as providing a public counter service for advice and complaints from ship owners, seafarers, and members of the public.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s consultation on the future of the Tyne office stated that it would close by September this year, yet it closed on 6 March, with the lease expiring just a week later—a move that was supported by the Government’s maritime growth study. I accept, of course, that some alternative provision has now been made at South Tyneside College for an initial period of five years, but the move has seen a depletion in crucial parts of the service. Not only was the office closed ahead of schedule, but what is in its place does not, quite frankly, fit the bill. The new office will not have on-site surveyors, nor a counter service. The 18 surveyors have been redeployed in the “flexible, customer-focused” way the Government believe to be an essential strand in their plans for maritime growth. The consultation proposed

“to put in place a remote, IT-enabled working regime to minimise any adverse impact. This would be based around our surveyors working remotely, from other suitable MCA or Government locations or from home.”

This is now in practice. However, can the Minister advise me on when the new IT system for remote working will begin to be used by MCA surveyors? It is important that ports and ship owners in the north-east, but also taxpayers, know how much the IT procurement exercise will cost, in order to balance it against the estimated £330,000 total annual savings that the MCA will make from the marine office closures.

The loss of the Tyne marine office has left a 350-mile stretch of UK coastline between Aberdeen and Bridlington with no physical base for MCA surveyors who are required to inspect and, if necessary, detain a diverse range of UK and internationally registered shipping. Its loss has increased the prospect of the private sector carrying out port state control work at ports where an MCA surveyor may not be available at short notice. This was recognised by some local RMT members in the north-east who made their feelings clear to the Government and to the MCA, stating that

“the closure of the Port of Tyne office and opening an office in Bridlington will open the North East coast to be exploited by shipping companies when inspectors are working from home and do not have a centre to coordinate their inspections and monitor shipping movements along the North East coast.”

In November 2013, a Panama-registered ship called the Donald Duckling was detained in the Tyne by MCA surveyors. This cargo vessel of over 46,000 tonnes was found to be unsafe and crewed by 18 Filipino seafarers who had run out of food. The vessel owners then abandoned the ship and the crew, who were stranded on the vessel, without pay and reliant on international freight transport and our brilliant South Shields Mission to Seafarers and assistance from our port of Tyne to survive. The crew had to wait nearly a year before receiving any pay or safe passage home. Moving MCA survey work away from a physical base may compromise response times when a substandard vessel of concern is in the north-east ports, even if only for a relatively short period.

The other change is the loss of counter service. Marine offices traditionally provide that service to cater for matters such as discharge books, training record books, seamen’s cards and other certification, including duplicates of lost certificates. As our marine office covered Berwick to Whitby, this is a loss not just for my constituents but for the whole north-east and parts of Yorkshire. Seafarers now have to travel to Hull or send their documents by post, all at increased cost and risk. Providing the service is an administrative task, and I am led to believe that the same number of administrative staff are to be retained at the college, so I am completely at a loss as to why the service has been removed, especially when the range of certification required to work at sea is extensive and subject to regular updates.

Just this January, the key convention on standards of training, certification and watchkeeping, which sets out basic requirements for all seafarers, was subject to changes, and the MCA is in the process of reforming its fee structure, including for the basic medical certificate, without which a seafarer cannot work at sea. Marine information notice 541, issued by the MCA earlier this month, states that the Hull marine office will offer a number of services previously provided in the Tyne marine office. The Hull office, which was under threat, is to remain open, but that does not take away the fact that the counter office for seafarers in South Shields and in the north-east will be 100 miles down the coast.

The number of seafarers at work or in training in the UK shipping industry is in long-term decline, with records showing that there has been a 60% decline in the number of merchant seafarers over the last 30 years. We are seeing a decline in offshore supply activity in the North sea following the collapse in oil prices, and there is a constant threat, especially for ratings, of being replaced by low-cost crew from overseas. In that context, I cannot see how the loss of the Tyne marine office will encourage my region to recover jobs and skills in this industry. The Government speak of wanting to recruit and train more British seafarers, but surely taking steps such as the closure of this office and the removal of the counter service will have exactly the opposite effect.

[Mr Alan Campbell (Tynemouth) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend will be aware of the planned merger between South Tyneside College and TyneMet in my borough. With our history of seamanship and engineering excellence, should we not be encouraging young men and women who seek a career at sea, rather than discouraging them?

Rising Cost of Transport

Alan Campbell Excerpts

Wednesday 9th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Norman Baker]

I was in the south-west yesterday, in Exeter and Newton Abbott, and I saw fully the problems of the Somerset levels and Cowley bridge in particular. I am taking that specific matter up with Network Rail. As for the other matters, my hon. Friend has put his points firmly on the record, as I am sure he intended.

Detractors—I am afraid I include those on the Opposition Front Bench—have sought to find the biggest fare rise and portray it as representative of the whole story, which of course is simply misleading. Why they wish to frighten people off the railway, I am not entirely clear. Fares are not as expensive as some wish to present. Passengers who look beyond the headline quotes will see the bigger picture on train fares. Under the rules that permit flexibility within fares baskets—the Opposition apparently now dislike them, but they were very happy with them when they introduced them and carried them through for a number of years—for every fare that increases by more than the average, other fares must increase by less than the average, remain static or fall.

The hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) has made a big play about the 5% available to train companies. I did not hear her condemn the fact that Labour introduced that. I did not hear her condemn that fact that it was introduced on the very eve of the 2010 general election, with a legal proviso saying that it should be reversed on 1 January 2011. I did not hear her condemn the Labour-run Welsh Government, where flex continues to operate—or is it all right in Wales and not in England? Nor did I hear her refer in her opening remarks to the fares that have risen below inflation, or even come down. For example, season tickets between Shenfield and London, and between Gatwick and Croydon, have come down. Why does she want the passengers buying those season tickets to pay more under her arrangements than they are paying under our arrangements? Why does she want commuters between Ormskirk and Blackpool, who have seen their fares come down by 9%, to pay more? This is opportunism with a capital O that we are hearing from the Opposition. Of course, they are not interested in the fares that have come down. They are not interested in helping passengers; they are interested in misrepresenting the position to make political points. [Interruption.] Passengers welcome the fact that there are many cheap deals available on the railway that they can take advantage of.

Let me say this. Of course, there are some higher fares and there are particular higher fares paid by commuters. Everyone on the Government Benches recognises that, which is why we are busy looking at the fares and ticketing review and why we have sought to ensure we get better value from the railways to enable money to be returned to the taxpayer and the fare payer. It is also the case, however, that those who are able to travel outside the busiest periods can benefit from some of the cheapest fares in Europe. For example, advance fares are available from London to Birmingham, Manchester or Leeds for £6, or from London to Glasgow in the middle of the day for less than £30. Cheap advance fares have been a major contributor to the massive growth in the number of people using our railways in recent years. It is a real success story, and one of the reasons why we have more people on the railway now than at any time since 1929. That is not the picture the Opposition wish to portray, but it is the truth nevertheless.

My hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart) rightly referred to the need for a balanced comparison between different fares. Independent analysis by the website he referred to, “The Man in Seat Sixty-One”, has shown that only 15%, or thereabouts, of the tickets available in the UK are among the highest-priced in Europe. The other 85% are equal to, if not cheaper than, their comparators in other European countries.

On the fares and ticketing review, we are determined to ensure that passenger interests are catered for. We know that the picture can be confusing, even to the initiated, so we are considering how to make fares and ticketing more modern, more transparent, more flexible and more user friendly. In response to the Chairman of the Transport Committee, I say that we are doing a great deal on smart ticketing, which is integral to the fares and ticketing review, and transparency is a key element of that review. By driving innovation and exploiting the opportunities from new technologies, we can make the railway easier to use, tackle crowding and make the best possible use of the existing network.

On buses, if we believed what the Opposition said, we would think we were approaching the end of civilisation, that there were no buses left on the roads, and that it had turned into “Mad Max 3”. Indeed, I get the impression that Labour would grimly welcome that, with an “I told you so” satisfaction, were it to materialise.

On 28 February, the hon. Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood) warned of a Beeching-style cull of our bus network. It is true that in some areas local authorities have cut services probably unnecessarily. Campaign for Better Transport refers to Nottingham city council, which is Labour-run, Stoke-on-Trent city council, Darlington borough council, Leicester city council and Halton borough council, so perhaps she should put her own house in order before she starts attacking the Government.

Here is the good news, which we would not get from the Opposition either: passenger journeys in 2012, measured on the third quarter, are up 0.6% from the same quarter the year before. [Interruption.] Members are shouting about London. Even with London taken out, passenger journeys are down just 0.8% on last year. Is that a Beeching-style cut? Total bus mileage is only down 0.8% as well.

We are seeing that good innovation can work wonders. In Sheffield, for example, a wonderful partnership has been established by the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, and the price of multi-operated tickets has been reduced by 14% to stimulate passenger growth further. In Sheffield, First has reduced its commercial fares by almost 40%. Weekly and daily tickets now cost £11 and £3.40 respectively, compared to the previous prices of £18.50 and £4.60. FirstGroup has seen passenger growth higher than 20% across the whole of Sheffield, which equates to more than 50,000 additional First Bus journeys. We want to see bus companies working with local authorities. It is driving up passenger numbers, where they make the effort, but where they are slashing and burning, as they are in some local authorities, of course the consequences are different.

The hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Andrew Jones) quite rightly referred to electrification taking costs out of the railway. That is a key purpose in what we are doing, as well reducing carbon emissions. I am very proud to be part of a Government which is electrifying 850 miles of track—one in nine miles of the network being electrified, compared with the nine miles electrified by the previous Government in 13 years. I have heard no apology for that failure to invest in the future.

[Mr Alan Campbell (Tynemouth) (Lab)]

claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36).

Question put forthwith, That the Question be now put.

Question agreed to.

Main Question accordingly put.

Cost of Living

Alan Campbell Excerpts

Wednesday 16th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

The hon. Gentleman will be pleased to know that we have done that. He knows that we introduced it in the Budget last year and that it was partly funded by the tax rise for oil companies. I know that he welcomed the rural fuel duty discount pilot and I was pleased to get that from him. It is an important pilot and we will see how it progresses over the coming months and years.

Let us make a comparison with what would have happened under Labour’s fuel duty plans. Labour would have had motorists paying £144 more and the average haulier would have been £4,400 worse off if we had not taken the action we have taken. When it comes to prices at the pumps, no one will forget Labour’s record: 12 increases in fuel duty while they were in office and a further six fuel duty hikes planned for after the election.

Let me address the very important issue of buses. I listened intently to the speech by the hon. Member for Darlington (Mrs Chapman) and I am happy to meet her to talk about her local issues. She asked whether we could have a Transport for London-type approach in the rest of the country, but local transport authorities have had the power to impose such a model locally since 2000 and the flexibility to do so should they want to do that. The Government think it is up to local authorities, rather than Whitehall, to take that decision, but I am very happy to talk to her about her particular local issues.

We have protected capital spending on transport but have also had to take difficult decisions regarding the bus service operators grant. Nevertheless, I am delighted that we continue to make improvements in bus services, not least through the £70 million for the better bus area fund, the £31 million for green bus funding to cut carbon emissions and support British jobs and, of course, the £560 million of local sustainable transport fund money that funded 35 successful bids in part, including for improvements to bus services. Some £200 million has been spent on local major bus schemes. There is £20 million going to community bus services and £15 million supporting the roll-out of smart ticketing technology across England’s bus fleets. There are lots of good things going on in buses and we are still taking the steps needed to tackle the fiscal deficit left by Labour.

To conclude, whether we are talking about an income tax cut for 24 million people, taking 2 million of the lowest-paid out of income tax altogether, freezing council tax, helping home owners with their energy bills or limiting increases in rail fares, the Government recognise the pressures on the cost of living. Wherever we can we will continue to take action to help further, but there is no getting away from the fact that we are operating in a financial straitjacket as a result of the deficit. As my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker) pointed out, there is no magic wand we can wave; we have to work hard to sort out our public finances and get our economy back on track.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the Labour years in office was what we got for all the money that was wasted and all the debt that was racked up. Nothing. In addition, there was an infrastructure deficit that was as bad as the financial deficit. Long-term security of energy supplies? Nothing. Low-cost railway? No. Reform of the welfare system? Nothing. Sustainable pensions? Nothing.

The reality is that tackling the financial deficit is one of the problems the Government need to solve, but we will make sure that we help out on the cost of living wherever we can as we rebuild our country. It would be fundamentally wrong to continue with Labour’s failed policy—to spend more, borrow more and pass the buck for our debts to our children and the next generation.

[Mr Alan Campbell (Tynemouth) (Lab)]

claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36).

Question put forthwith, That the question be now put.

Question agreed to.

Question put accordingly (Standing Order No. 31(2)), That the amendment be made.