Great British Railways: Industrial Action

Baroness Deech Excerpts

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

So far as the long-distance operator on the east coast main line is concerned, I can very happily give that assurance: LNER is top of the performance league and is actually very popular with passengers—I hope it remains so. In respect of Northern, I just looked at it today. Northern was taken into public ownership in March 2020 because the previous owners had failed. At that time, it had a dispute about the role of the guard. That dispute was already running then and is still running after the remainder of its term of ownership under the previous Government. It is a very long-standing dispute that involves Sunday rostering, and we are working very hard to fix it. This Government inherited that dispute; it could have been resolved in any of the years from 2020 to 2024 if the Government at the time had so chosen.

[Baroness Deech (CB)]

My Lords, will GBR have a better plan than Network Rail for fixing the terrible damage done to Oxford by about four years of Network Rail cutting the city in two—with damage to the people, businesses and residents—or will the transition make things even worse and slower?

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I have apologised to the noble Baroness for the disruption at Botley Road bridge in Oxford already, and I am happy to do that again. What I am quite clear about is that the disruption caused by the bridge replacement and the associated difficulties of rebuilding the road will be finished before GBR comes into effect.