King’s Speech (4th Day)

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Randerson (LD)]

My Lords, I start by congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Vallance, on his excellent maiden speech.

I was delighted to see the cluster of public transport Bills in the gracious Speech, including the imaginative reuse of the high-speed rail Bill, although I was disappointed that government comments so far seem to suggest that they have abandoned the concept of HS2 moving further north. However, I hope that they will use the Bill as a vehicle for a major upgrade in rail infrastructure in the north of England that is way overdue. Across Europe, high-speed rail blossoms. Why should we not be able to do the same in the UK? The three rail Bills should in practice provide a coherent whole, but I am a bit worried that the Government’s vision of rail reform may be too complex to truly maximise its potential.

Liberal Democrats support Great British Railways; we support a guiding mind, taking day-to-day control out of the hands of the Department for Transport. However, we have concerns that renationalisation would sap energy that should go into efficient timetables. There is also inconsistency. Apparently, open access operators are okay. What about the ROSCOs—the rolling stock leasing companies? If any part of our railways benefits from excess profits, it is those leasing companies—three large companies with an element of monopoly profits. A quarter of train operators’ costs goes to those companies, and yet there seems to be no mention in the outline of legislation about their role. I was, however, delighted that passengers will have a powerful champion.

I was very pleased to see the better buses Bill, which is desperately overdue. We have decades of experience to show how counterproductive deregulation outside London has been. Buses are by far the most frequently used form of public transport; they are used in particular by the youngest, oldest and poorest in our society. But our bus services have been dying off rapidly. We on these Benches agree that of course local councils need greater powers, but they are very cash-strapped, and power without money is meaningless. We want to see simpler, dedicated funding for buses.

Briefly, I was extremely pleased to see the proposal for funding support for sustainable aviation fuel. Aviation is the most difficult sector to decarbonise and urgently needs investment.

We will provide a constructive approach to the proposed legislation. We agree that the priority has to be to strengthen and modernise our public transport infrastructure, which has been a brake on economic social development and our efforts to tackle climate change.

I want briefly to mention two other aspects of the economy. The first is the higher education sector, and I must declare an interest as chancellor of Cardiff University. It is essential that the crisis in university funding is tackled immediately. Higher education has been a leading sector in our reputation across the world, but it is at imminent risk of collapse. The funding model is fundamentally broken, and universities papered over the cracks by recruiting more foreign students. This is a highly competitive market and can work only with government support. Instead, the previous Government undermined the sector by talking down the quality of UK degrees and introducing visa complexities. Universities face massive budget cuts and budget deficits; there will be closures, mergers and job losses, and long-term damage to the sector. I was therefore very disappointed that there is no legislation to deal with this.

Secondly, in one sentence, the arts sector is desperately underfunded. I make a plea that the Government work with the Welsh Government on the funding of the Welsh National Opera. It spends 60% of its time touring and performing in England; it is as much England’s opera as Wales’s opera, and it needs urgent assistance.