Future of the Coach Industry Debate

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Department: Department for Transport

Future of the Coach Industry

Anthony Mangnall Excerpts
Thursday 10th December 2020

(3 years, 3 months ago)

Westminster Hall
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Anthony Mangnall Portrait Anthony Mangnall (Totnes) (Con)
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It is a pleasure to be able to speak in the debate, which I congratulate the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame Morris) on securing. I speak on behalf of all the Devon MPs who were unfortunately unable to get on to the call list.

The Government understand the importance of the tourism sector, which is valued at £106 billion, the hospitality sector, which is valued at £130 billion, and the leisure sector, which is valued at £200 billion, so they must surely understand the value that coach companies and services play in those sectors in their supporting role. That is what I want to speak about today. Coach companies, in all our constituencies across the whole country, play an integral role in supporting those sectors, and if we wish our economy to bounce back in the coming years, it will be essential to support businesses that play a supporting role to those major parts of our economy.

I hope that the Government will look very carefully not at what they have already done, but at what they can do in future. There is no doubt that the Government have been extraordinarily generous in their support schemes to businesses across the country, from the grant schemes to everything else, but loans alone will not secure the future of businesses. We need a forward-looking approach to ensure that they have the economic breathing space to thrive in the months to come.

I hope that the Government will look at the CPT’s requests of extending finance holidays by 12 months, ensuring that greater access to support packages is made available to the tourism and hospitality sector, providing an aid-to-trade grant to operators to help boost the return of the coach sector towards tourism—hopefully working with VisitBritain to encourage a new era of domestic tourism would achieve that—and topping up the home-to-school payments to meet the true cost of the work for so many of the coach companies that have struggled over the years.

I am very fortunate in my constituency to have AB Coaches, Tally Ho and Millmans, all of which have struggled through the last seven months. I hope that in looking at how we can support them now we might also look at historical issues that have blighted the sector. Let us see if a suspension of fuel duty for two years to allow companies to reinvest that money into an environmentally friendly new fleet of vehicles would be beneficial. Let us look at ways in which we can rework the working time directives to allow people to work more hours, and to go out there for business and opportunities. I want to see us stand up for businesses that are here today so that they are there tomorrow, and I hope that the Government will act on that.

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Rachel Maclean Portrait Rachel Maclean
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I thank the hon. Gentleman very much indeed, and if the CPT is watching this debate, I want to say to it that we are grateful for its work. We work closely together, so it will know that my colleagues have had a number of discussions with people in the sector and with the CPT itself, and we will continue to have those discussions. We keep under close review all the measures we provide, not just for this sector but across the economy.

Anthony Mangnall Portrait Anthony Mangnall
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Will the Minister give way?

Rachel Maclean Portrait Rachel Maclean
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With the greatest respect, I do not think I can, because I need to get to the end of my speech and I think I need to allow time at the end. Do I have time, Dr Huq, for another intervention?

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Rachel Maclean Portrait Rachel Maclean
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Then of course I will give way.

Anthony Mangnall Portrait Anthony Mangnall
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I do not mean to eat into the time left for the hon. Member for Easington, but I just want to make the point about the economic viability of these businesses. The fact is that if we support them now, it will pay dividends long into the future. I appreciate the level of support that has been given, which really makes a huge difference to all those sectors that pay so much into the Treasury, but action now will help us to bounce back quicker.

Rachel Maclean Portrait Rachel Maclean
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My hon. Friend makes that point incredibly well, and it is the thinking behind all the support that has been given, is being given now and that will be given in the future, because we want all these businesses to come back in the future. Also, we absolutely want them to come back in a green and decarbonised way. Many Members referred to that point, which is at the heart of the Government’s agenda in the transport sector more broadly. However, I will come to my concluding remarks and allow the hon. Member for Easington to come in.

This has been a year like no other, and I thank all the transport workers in the coach sector, who have shown remarkable resilience over the last 10 months, and I hope and believe—as I am sure that everybody does—that 2021 will be different from 2020. I am encouraged by developments in the production of vaccines against covid-19. There are no certainties associated with that process, but it seems that there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.

In the meantime, I assure anybody who is watching this debate, and of course people in the Chamber, that we will continue to work with the coach sector. We will continue those conversations; this is not the end of them. We want to understand and provide the best available support that is necessary.

As we have discussed, we have an ambitious and achievable long-term environmental plan to deliver on greening our transport sector and reducing and removing vehicle emissions, and the coach industry is a very important part of that plan.

I want to reassure coach operators and their employees, and all hon. Members present here in Westminster Hall today, that we remain committed to safeguarding the future of the coach industry. I know that the concerns that have been raised today are being heard by Ministers, by the Chancellor and by Members across Government.