Northern Ireland (All-party Talks)

Debate between John McDonnell and Theresa Villiers

Monday 15th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Villiers]

I cannot agree with the hon. Gentleman on the benefit cap—I think that is what he means, rather than a welfare cap. The reality is that setting a cap on out-of-work benefits at £26,000 a year puts it somewhere in excess of average earnings in Northern Ireland. I think that most people would agree that it is entirely fair to restrict the benefits that an out-of-work family can receive to levels that are equivalent to or below the average that a working family can bring home by going out to work.

[John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab)]

I would like the Secretary of State to clarify the maths on this. Some £1.5 billion has been cut from the Northern Ireland budget since 2011 to assist the UK Government in reducing borrowing and tackling the deficit, yet the solution now being put forward is to ask Northern Ireland to increase its borrowing by £500 million. Is that not simply inflicting a high burden of cost on the residents of Northern Ireland?

[Mrs Villiers]

I am afraid that I do not agree with the hon. Gentleman’s figures on the Northern Ireland block grant, which has actually gone up in cash terms. In real terms there has been a reduction, but it has been around only 1% for every year of the spending review. The reality is that the Northern Ireland Executive have a larger budget now than they did when they set their programme for government, because of Barnett consequentials. Those figures compare favourably with policing and the Home Office, for example, which have had to take a significant cut in England, and English local government, where the reductions have also been very significant.

Aviation

Debate between John McDonnell and Theresa Villiers

Wednesday 4th July 2012 Westminster Hall

[Mrs Villiers]

Certainly the debate that will be triggered by our call for evidence will look at a range of options, including how a hub can interact with highly successful point-to-point airports, and will consider connections between our airports to see if they can provide a way to improve and enhance our connectivity. Those are the sorts of ideas we have already been looking at, because they were proposed in response to our scoping document, and they will provide an important basis for future debate over the next few months on how we maintain London’s and the UK’s top-class connectivity.

[John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

Railway Industry

Debate between John McDonnell and Theresa Villiers

Tuesday 19th October 2010 Westminster Hall

[The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mrs Theresa Villiers)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran (Katy Clark) on securing the debate, and congratulate the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne), on his recent appointment and his first address from the Front Bench.

I thought that it would be useful to consider the questions that the hon. Lady helpfully repeated at the end of her speech. First, she asked whether Sir Roy McNulty’s work is informing the comprehensive spending review. Neither his interim report nor his final report have yet been published or finalised, but I can assure the hon. Lady that Sir Roy has kept my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and officials at the Department for Transport informed of his work, so that is feeding into the decisions being made on the comprehensive spending review. The early draft work, as it has been going ahead, has helped us to feed into the Treasury process and the CSR.

The hon. Lady also asked whether I would write to the executives of the rail operating companies about remuneration.

[John McDonnell]

Before the Minister moves on from the McNulty report, I point out that I asked whether she would meet the rail unions to discuss the McNulty report when the interim report is published in November.

[Mrs Villiers]

I was going to come on to that, but I am happy to answer it now. I have slight qualms about this while the industrial action is continuing on the London underground, because I am concerned about the huge inconvenience that that is causing passengers. As the hon. Gentleman is keen for me to meet the unions, I am happy to do that, but I would still urge them to find an alternative way to resolve their dispute on the London underground.

[John McDonnell]

The two issues are unconnected. We will make sure that the right hon. Lady can travel on a non-strike day.

[Mrs Villiers]

I suppose that I am particularly sensitive about the issue because the day on which I was due to meet the Transport Salaried Staffs Association coincided with a strike day so, for all sorts of reasons, it seemed inappropriate to go ahead with the meeting.

Turning to remuneration in the rail industry, the level of pay across the industry clearly needs looking at in the context of the McNulty review. I have discussed remuneration levels with the train operators, and I expect that dialogue to continue.

The hon. Lady’s third question was about introducing a windfall levy for the train operators. The Government have no plans to do that. Her fourth question was whether I would meet her and colleagues to discuss those who—tragically for them—were made redundant by Jarvis. Yes, I would be happy to do that.

On the franchising review, the hon. Lady asked specifically about a clause on ScotRail and she will appreciate that that is a matter for the Scottish Government, but she also asked a wider question about the approach that the UK Government will take in relation to the franchises for which we are responsible. I am not convinced that we should have a blanket withdrawal of that type of indemnity clause; there is a place for such clauses in appropriate circumstances. She then asked whether the McNulty review, and the Government considerations flowing from it, would look at an expanded role for the public sector and additional nationalisation. That is certainly one of the options that Sir Roy will consider.

The hon. Lady also asked about ticket offices and the loss of guards. In many cases those are matters for those operating services, but the overall approach in relation to the franchises is governed by the ticketing settlement agreement. We need to look at reforming that, to ensure that we get it right, but it is obviously important to consult properly with the communities affected by the decisions.

The hon. Lady also talked about the strike action on the London underground and the loss of guards. I am convinced that we need to modernise working practices in the rail industry. I am concerned, as I already said to the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell), about the damage to the London economy caused by the strike action that is taking place. We have to recognise that the way in which people buy tickets has changed, and that rightly will impact on London Underground’s decisions about the deployment of its staff.

[Mrs Villiers]

Forgive me; I am probably trespassing on devolved matters because the relationship between London Underground and its employees is of course a matter for which the Mayor is politically accountable. I have to say, however, that of course I am concerned about security for women using public transport—I am a woman myself—but there is a real argument for saying that staff deployed on platforms are more valuable to passenger security than those stuck behind ticket office windows. I am not sure, therefore, that the security issue can justify the retention of ticket offices. Security focuses on whether people have access to staff in stations, which is not the same as whether a ticket office is open.

I shall go on to some of the wider issues addressed by the hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran. I would like to assure the House that the coalition has put rail at the heart of its strategy for transport, in terms of re-energising our economy, reducing carbon emissions and addressing congestion on our roads. I welcome the support shown today for taking into account the concerns of both passengers and rail freight—a point rightly made by the shadow Minister. Much will depend on the announcements made tomorrow in the spending review. It is clear that transport will not escape the pain that is the unfortunate consequence of the deficit that we have inherited from the previous Government, but I emphasise that the Chancellor has made it clear that he recognises the economic benefits of investment in infrastructure to support economic growth, and that he recognises in particular the importance of investment in transport infrastructure.

The shadow Minister asked me about Crossrail. I am sure that he welcomed, as I did, the support expressed by the Chancellor at the weekend for the Crossrail project. We have also expressed clear support for Birmingham New Street, we are taking forward plans on high-speed rail and we are working very hard on Thameslink. Our focus in all those projects is to ensure that we value-engineer costs down to keep the projects affordable and deliverable within the spending envelope that is now available.

[John McDonnell]

I emphasise that, although there is a commitment to the Crossrail project overall, people are concerned about the paring down of the project and the missed opportunities that might result from that. For example, in my own constituency, Hayes and Harlington station is to be redeveloped. If there is any paring down in the investment of such station projects, we will miss the chance to include modal transfer opportunities and to ensure the integration of our local transport network.

[Mrs Villiers]

Both the Secretary of State and I have repeatedly talked about our support for delivering the whole project, and it is worth bearing in mind the excellent work done by the team behind Crossrail to find lower-cost ways to deliver the same transport benefits, and to deliver the whole project.

It is true that there has been significant good news on the railways in recent years. Since privatisation there have been some striking successes, with train punctuality now at record levels and a significant increase in the number of passenger journeys. Also, the number of miles travelled on the railways has gone up by 75%. Since privatisation, therefore, a story of managed decline has been transformed into one of significant growth. Although the recession has subdued that trend to a degree, we expect it to resume once the economy recovers.

So, that is some of the good news about the UK’s railways. But the downside is that the cost of running the railways did rise dramatically under our Labour predecessors. If we are to deliver the improvements to services and capacity that hon. Members have called for today, and that passengers want, we have to find a way to get costs down. The disastrous deficit left for us by our predecessors makes it essential that we drive out cost inefficiencies on the railways, and we owe it to passengers to do our very best to get costs down.