West Coast Main Line
Debate between Bill Wiggin and Lord McLoughlin(12 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Bill Wiggin (North Herefordshire) (Con)
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his decision and on his statement. In it, he said that he has paused the ongoing franchise programme. Will he use that pause to ensure higher minimum standards and that the Great Western franchise is not given to FirstGroup as a sop?
Mr McLoughlin
I can assure my hon. Friend that the pause is while we wait to see what the Richard Brown inquiry says and whether there are things that we need to put right in these live competitions. Obviously, there will be no sops to any organisations. These are very competitive bids and a lot of work and effort goes into them. Overall, we are seeing far better services for this country’s passengers as a result of franchising and of the very brave decisions taken by my right hon. Friend the Member for North West Hampshire (Sir George Young) some years ago.