Oral Answers to Questions

Edward Leigh Excerpts

Thursday 26th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Father of the House.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

Nationalisation was supposed to put local communities in touch. Grimsby is the largest town in the east of England without a direct train to London. We have been campaigning for one for years, and now the Secretary of State has written to me to say that we are not going to get the train because of accessibility problems in Market Rasen station. It is ludicrous to spend £15 million on extending a platform that does not need to be extended and building a bridge that does not need to be built. What does the Secretary of State want me to do? Does she want me to get on my knees and beg for this train? Let me do so now—[Laughter.] My hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Immingham (Martin Vickers) and I have been campaigning for this for our local community for years.

[Heidi Alexander]

I think that is possibly a first for the Father of the House, and it underlines the strength of feeling that he and his constituents have about improved rail services. He is right; I did write to him on 17 March and confirmed that while we could run trains without major infrastructure changes, we would have to find additional funding to support the necessary service pattern changes. For LNER services to call at Market Rasen, significant upgrades would be needed to the station to enable safe and compliant operation.