Britain’s Railways

Debate between Grant Shapps and Barbara Keeley

Thursday 20th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

We are honoured to be surrounded by successful former train Ministers in the House today, and I pay tribute to my hon. Friend not only for having been a great train Minister but for knowing exactly how many passengers—1.8 billion—travelled in the last, most successful ever year for our railways, which was 2019, before covid. He will be pleased to hear that the entirety of the White Paper is written on the premise of putting the passenger first and working out what they need, which is not very complicated: trains that run on time, are comfortable—warm in winter, cooled in the summer—and have wi-fi available. And no more of those uncomfortable cardboard ironing board seats either! People want to find it easy and comfortable to get on, with tickets that are easily available and contactless, as other hon. Friends have mentioned. That is the way that we will take the numbers back to 1.8 billion and beyond.

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab) [V]]

Some 50% of rail stations in Greater Manchester are inaccessible to people with a disability, and I hope that the Transport Secretary agrees that that is unacceptable. On the face of it, these plans are going to do little to improve accessibility, so can he confirm that he will be giving our regional mayor, Andy Burnham, the funding and powers he needs to control and improve stations, as they do in London?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Grant Shapps and Barbara Keeley

Thursday 17th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. These powers have existed in London forever. They prevent, for example, box junctions from being blocked up, along with a number of other things. As he rightly says, we intend to extend the powers throughout the country and I will report back to the House on that shortly.

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab) [V]]

I want to return to support for the aviation sector during the pandemic. Thousands of jobs have been lost at easyJet and Airbus, and easyJet has moved many pilots to part-time contracts and closed three of its bases. Staff who are losing their jobs in aviation or managing on part-time pay need the sector-specific support package that has been promised. That will be essential in avoiding more job losses, so when will we see that support for the sector?

[Grant Shapps]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right about the impact on aviation, which has been enormous, but so has the support, and that is often not recognised. If I may detail it, there has been £1.8 billion of support through the Bank of England’s covid corporate financing facility, which easyJet and others have used; £283 million has come from the coronavirus job retention scheme; and 56,400 staff have been furloughed, with the salaries that have been paid worth well north of £1 billion. When those figures are added up, there has been an enormous amount of support for the sector. We are working with it every day and the best thing we can do is to open up the routes, which is dependent on the progress of the virus and the progress of technology to help us beat the virus.