Oral Answers to Questions

Deidre Brock Excerpts

Thursday 16th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson]

My hon. Friend continues to make a powerful case for this scheme. I know that he has met my noble Friend the Baroness Vere before, but I am sure she will be delighted to meet him again to talk about this important scheme for his constituency.

[Deidre Brock (Edinburgh North and Leith) (SNP)]

16. What recent steps his Department has taken to facilitate decarbonisation of (a) public transport and (b) the wider travel sector in line with the Government’s net zero target.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Trudy Harrison)]

Our world-leading transport decarbonisation plan sets out the Government’s commitments and the actions needed to decarbonise transport, putting the sector on the pathway to net zero.

[Deidre Brock]

A merry Christmas to you and your team, Mr. Speaker. Considerable Scottish Government investment is going into electrification and new rail lines, but hundreds of millions of pounds are leaving the Scottish rail system every year to pay Network Rail access charges. Does the Minister agree that one of the top priorities for the new Great British Railways must be a review of the system in which Scotland’s railways pay a massive premium simply to run services?

[Trudy Harrison]

Access charging will remain with GBR, but we can certainly arrange a meeting if that might be helpful.