Oral Answers to Questions

Alice Macdonald Excerpts

Thursday 15th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lilian Greenwood]

I appreciate the work that my hon. Friend is doing to stand up for his constituents, who rely so much on rail services. As he acknowledges, plans for a major upgrade to the Brighton main line were cancelled by the previous Government in the 2021 spending review, and they did not even acknowledge that that had happened. Network Rail is funded to progress automatic route-setting signalling technology to further enhance performance across the Brighton main line. Further decisions will be made after the spending review.

[Alice Macdonald (Norwich North) (Lab/Co-op)]

7. What steps she is taking to support the aviation sector.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mike Kane)]

We are unlocking growth by progressing airport planning decisions and inviting third runway proposals for Heathrow by the summer. A new UK airspace design service and support fund will drive airspace modernisation. We introduced the sustainable aviation fuel mandate, and yesterday we proposed a revenue certainty mechanism to support UK production.

[Alice Macdonald]

SaxonAir, Norwich airport and Norfolk and Suffolk county councils recently launched Aviation East, a call to make East Anglia the heart of aviation innovation. We are already leading in the development of electric aircraft and the early availability of sustainable aviation fuel, but we could do so much more to unlock growth and deliver jobs. Will the Minister outline how this Government will support aviation in the east? I am due to meet him soon, but will he also come to Norwich, take a flight in an electric plane and see what innovation is under way?

[Mike Kane]

This Government want to see the UK maximise the benefits of the future of flight technologies, including flying taxis, both for the economy and for communities. We recently announced over £20 million of Government funding for the Civil Aviation Authority and the future flight challenge to deliver the future flight programme this year. That joint programme between industry, Government and the CAA will enhance drone capability by 2027, with flying taxis in the UK’s skies by 2028. I would be delighted to visit Norwich and the airport in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

Bus Funding

Alice Macdonald Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Louise Haigh]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Under the current system, money has been thrown hand over fist at operators, which have cherry-picked the most commercially viable routes, leaving local authorities to step in to subsidise the lifeline routes that people rely on. The benefit of areas being able to move to a franchised system, or indeed to set up their own publicly owned bus company, is that they can cross-subsidise properly across routes, and ensure that public money is spent in the best way and that we design routes and networks that really work for local communities.

[Alice Macdonald (Norwich North) (Lab/Co-op)]

On Friday I met members of the 17th Norwich scout group as part of UK Parliament Week, and they had lots of questions on transport. They are particular concerned about the reliability and availability of buses. Could the Secretary of State expand on how today’s announcement will support young people and how we can ensure that their voices are heard in this important conversation?

[Louise Haigh]

It is particularly important that we encourage young people on to buses, so that they can develop better behaviours and carry on using buses throughout their adult lives. I am delighted that we can confirm an additional £1.2 million in revenue funding for Norfolk. That revenue funding will be available to Norfolk to enable it to add additional services and improve the reliability and frequency of its local buses.