Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Stephenson Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

If he will introduce a direct service between Cleethorpes and London through Market Rasen.

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Andrew Stephenson)]

I recognise and pay tribute to my right hon. Friend’s campaign. He has raised this issue with me on a number of occasions. London North Eastern Railway and Network Rail continue to assess how the service could operate.

[Sir Edward Leigh]

I apologise to the Minister for banging on about this, and so do my hon. Friends the Members for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) and for Great Grimsby (Lia Nici), but we are talking about a catchment area of 100,000 people with no direct train to London. LNER, which we own, is prepared to give us our direct train for just £1 million, which compares with the £80 billion-plus we are spending on HS2. So we beg the Minister to do this for Lincolnshire, and we promise that if he gives us our train, we will make him an honorary yellowbelly.

[Andrew Stephenson]

That would indeed be a great honour. Before a final decision can be taken, we need to review a business case from LNER. Sadly, some of the surveys have been delayed because of coronavirus, but they will be taking place later this summer. I am happy to commit to writing to my right hon. Friend setting out the schedule for that work, and to keeping him and his colleagues updated.

[Fleur Anderson (Putney) (Lab)]

What support the Government are providing to local authorities to promote active travel.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Andrew Stephenson)]

In May, we announced £190 million-worth of investment in our road and rail networks to take advantage of lower demand.

[Andrew Jones]

My hon. Friend is aware of platform capacity issues at Leeds station; will he provide an update on the construction of platform 0, which will service rail connections from Harrogate and Knaresborough?

[Andrew Stephenson]

I pay tribute to the work that my hon. Friend did when he was a Department for Transport Minister. Work is now under way on platform 0 at Leeds and is expected to be completed by early next year. It will enable Northern to operate services more reliably.

[Mr Speaker]

Sounds like Harry Potter, doesn’t it?