East Coast Main Line Franchise Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Transport
Baroness Primarolo
Main Page: Baroness Primarolo (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Baroness Primarolo's debates with the Department for Transport
(11 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. I point out that we need to conclude Back-Bench speeches in about the next 50 minutes, so if everybody is to get in, speeches need to be a bit shorter and with not too many interventions. Then, nobody will be disappointed.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. I need Members to speak for less than 10 minutes if everyone is to get in, so please watch the clock and remember that your colleagues are waiting to speak. I call Andy McDonald.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. I am putting a nine-minute time limit on Back-Bench speeches to ensure that the remaining three Members who wish to speak can do so. If there are interventions and compensation, it will take us longer to get there.
Mr Burns
No, but I think that that conclusion could be drawn from what the hon. Gentleman has said. [Interruption.] He is being a little too coy now. We do know his history; he does have form. I do not think that even the hon. Member for Nottingham South is advocating an outright renationalisation.
The debate is so important, and of so much interest to so many people, because the east coast franchise serves so many communities and businesses, and helps to drive the economy along the length of the country, from London in the south to Aberdeen and Inverness in Scotland. I am grateful for my second opportunity in less than three weeks to discuss the franchise. We needed to revisit the issue today because Members felt that, given the high level of interest, the last debate—which was restricted to one and a half hours—was not long enough.
It is clear that the inter-city coast franchise is a valuable one. That, in my view, is a major part of why it should be returned to the private sector as soon as possible, as was originally envisaged by Lord Adonis when he brought it into temporary public ownership as Secretary of State in 2009. He said—I am repeating this for a reason—
“I do not believe that it would be in the public interest for us to have a nationalised train operating company indefinitely.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 1 July 2009; Vol. 712, c. 232.]
The work that has been done on the east coast franchise in the last three and a half years of public ownership, to which many Members have rightly referred, will allow an operator from the private sector to apply its own skills and innovative thinking to building long-term value for both the taxpayer and passengers on the route. I was informed during the Westminster Hall debate two weeks ago that Lord Adonis had changed his views on the ownership of the franchise, but I have not, and the Government have not. We remain committed to obtaining, for east coast passengers and for the taxpayer, the great benefits of franchising that we have seen since privatisation.
I think it is very interesting that the noble Lord and the right hon. Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan), along with the shadow Secretary of State, put out a press release this morning in advance of the debate. I would love to know the date of the telephone conversation the hon. Member for Nottingham South had with Lord Adonis when he told her he had changed his mind. I would be very grateful if she would intervene and tell me. [Interruption.] She says that she had a telephone conversation—[Interruption.] She said she never had one?
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. We must have a debate across the Dispatch Box so it can be recorded. We do not want prompting and responses from any Member who does not have the Floor Minister, you have the Floor.
Lilian Greenwood
I intervene merely to confirm that I have not had any telephone conversation with the noble Lord since we last spoke over the Dispatch Box.