Oral Answers to Questions

Jonathan Brash Excerpts

Thursday 13th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Dave Doogan—not here.

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

My constituent Kevin Stephenson and many other people in Hartlepool have complained about the shocking underperformance of Northern Rail. He has witnessed passengers being asked to wait in toilets in order to allow more people on to trains. Services are frequently cancelled, promises of additional carriages have not materialised, and residents are regularly left stranded at stations. Will the Minister work with me to fix the unacceptable level of service?

Airport Expansion

Jonathan Brash Excerpts

Tuesday 28th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mike Kane]

Airports near the hon. Member’s constituency will have a key part to play for workers across our nation with respect to the decarbonisation agenda and sustainable fuels, because Immingham sits within his constituency. That will be key to the UK’s plans to decarbonise our economy, along with good rail connectivity. Airports are a market within the private sector—planes want to go to particular places—but if we can expand and grow our economy across all our regions, as we hope to, I hope that this will be a golden age for all our airports.

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

My right hon. Friend the Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) was correct to say that this feels like déjà vu. Here we are again, debating huge transport infrastructure expansion in the south-east of England while constituents right across this country, especially in the north-east, think, “What about us?” Does the Minister agree that if expanding transport infrastructure in this country is the key to growth, that growth must happen everywhere?

[Mike Kane]

I agree. As I have said, airports that make the right decisions in the next few years on improving the airspace and improving their connectivity through surface access all have the potential to grow like my airport has grown exponentially. I urge Members to get behind their airports and support their growth and decarbonisation agendas.

Bus Funding

Jonathan Brash Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Louise Haigh]

This afternoon I was delighted to meet the Mayor of the west midlands, Richard Parker, to talk about how he is taking forward the bus powers in the west midlands. I was also delighted to announce the £50 million funding settlement for the west midlands, which will be transformational for the hon. Gentleman’s constituents.

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

My constituents know that bus services are not good enough. We welcome the announcement of more powers and more funding for our area, but sadly the Conservative Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen, has ruled out any exploration of giving the public control of bus services. Can the Secretary of State tell me how we can get around the bus blocker to ensure that there are decent bus services for Hartlepool constituents?

[Louise Haigh]

My hon. Friend is entirely right. Tees Valley has done very well out of today’s funding settlement, and I would encourage the Mayor to consider franchising options to deliver better bus services for the whole area. I can also confirm that through the better buses Bill we will be lifting the ideological ban on public ownership, so my hon. Friend can certainly consider working with his local authority to set up a publicly owned bus company if the Mayor does not choose to avail himself of those powers.