Railways Bill (Ninth sitting)

Debate between Jayne Kirkham and Keir Mather

Committee stage
Tuesday 3rd February 2026 Public Bill Committees

[Keir Mather]

For the reasons I have just outlined. I have already confirmed that there are absolutely no plans to change the existing range of discount schemes, which include the veterans railcard and the armed forces railcard.

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

Perhaps the Minister can confirm that the veterans scheme is incredibly important, that we all agree with it being there, and that there are absolutely no plans to remove it.

[Keir Mather]

Yes, I am very eager to agree with my hon. Friend.

This is a serious point. In my constituency, I see the difficulty that veterans have in attending Selby Abbey to mark the enormous contribution that people in our armed services have made across many conflicts. I would have thought that this is personal to every single member of this Committee, which is why I am pleased to agree with my hon. Friend.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jayne Kirkham and Keir Mather

Thursday 8th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Keir Mather]

As a near neighbour of the hon. Member, I know the line that he describes. The Harrogate line interventions have not been funded in this spending review period, but that does not preclude doubling the single line between Knaresborough and York as part of a future local or national infrastructure pipeline. Platform extensions and electrification have previously been developed to a strategic outline business case level of maturity. Based on current and future demand forecasts, the work did not consider dualling the line, but I am happy to continue engaging with the hon. Member on this very important question.

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

14. What recent progress she has made on providing long-term funding settlements to local transport authorities for bus services.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jayne Kirkham and Keir Mather

Thursday 20th November 2025 Commons Chamber

[Keir Mather]

I agree with the hon. Lady on her ambition to decarbonise maritime. That is why, in my first week as maritime Minister, I announced funding of £448 million to decarbonise UK maritime. She is right to note that electrification and grid capacity are enormous issues. Department for Transport officials continue to work across the ports sector to ensure that we can improve the grid connection process, and DESNZ is working on reform of that process to free up 500 GW of capacity for crucial sectors such as ports.

[Jayne Kirkham (Truro and Falmouth) (Lab/Co-op)]

The port of Falmouth has benefited from Government money for plug-in power, but it has been held back by the grid. The port is also trying to redevelop and expand, so that it can service the floating offshore wind sector, and bring in freight on the freight line that we lost 15 years ago. Will the Minister support the port of Falmouth in those aims, and will he visit?

[Keir Mather]

My hon. Friend is a champion for the port of Falmouth. I applaud the work that it is doing to achieve decarbonisation. It is incumbent on me to work with Ofgem and my departmental colleagues in DESNZ to ensure that we speed up the improvement of port capacity and connection to the national grid. I would be very happy to visit that port in the future to explore its fantastic work.