West Coast Main Line

Marcus Jones Excerpts

Monday 17th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Derek Twigg]

As ever, my hon. Friend makes an important point. One key failure of the system—I hold my hands up as a former rail Minister—is in being unable to get investment into certain franchises to improve rolling stock, passenger experience, gating and so on. Some companies that have won franchises have decided not to invest, for various reasons that we do not have time to go into.

As I said, all politics is local. Runcorn, in my constituency, has benefited significantly from improvements put in place in the past 10 years or so. I am concerned that we will not build on those improvements and, because of problems with the franchise, take a step backwards. What has happened in recent years is remarkable. Virgin has achieved a good partnership with Halton borough council, which has been crucial in the reconstruction of Halton’s economy. The previous Government’s massive £8 billion investment in the west coast main line, after decades of underinvestment by other Governments, was crucial in achieving the improvements we now see, and Virgin became part of that achievement because it ran the franchise. We have seen massive improvements. From Runcorn, it now takes just under two hours to get to London, with the fastest train taking 1 hour 50 minutes.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

Some things that happened under the last Labour Government and during Virgin’s franchise were not actually that positive for people on the west coast main line. Through his Government’s actions, my constituents in Nuneaton were severely disadvantaged in 2008, when all their fast off-peak services were taken away, something that hopefully the new franchise will rectify.

[Derek Twigg]

I understand the hon. Gentleman making an important point about his constituency, but faster trains to London were part of the attractiveness of the changes that were made. Where most passengers got on was important in making those decisions, and I am sorry that that disappointed the hon. Gentleman. I was very pleased for my constituency. I have not seen the details of the new franchise, but I hope there will be no attempt by the winning bidder to reduce the number of trains that stop at Runcorn. Merseytravel has pushed strongly for trains to stop at Liverpool Parkway, but we do not want any reduction in the number of trains stopping at Runcorn because of the economic impact the excellent service has on my constituency.

There have been massive station improvements. Mick Noone, the transportation strategic director at Halton borough council, has said the line is

“extremely attractive and well used”.

He went on to say:

“The quality, frequency and reliability of the services have undoubtedly encouraged more people to use the train”.

After years of persistent lobbying by me and Halton borough council, we were able to secure investment for a £650,000 refurbishment programme in Runcorn station. Its tired old 1960s appearance has been upgraded with new cladding, improving the experience for passengers and for my constituents who work there and provide such brilliant service.

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[Albert Owen (Ynys Môn) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Rosie Cooper) on securing this important debate. As a number of hon. Members have said in interventions, we have not had the opportunity to discuss this matter since the announcement was made. That is regrettable. I pay tribute to Labour Front Benchers, including my hon. Friend the Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle), for raising this point over the summer, and the 170,000 people who bothered to sign the petition. The discussion has been too one-sided in respect of one company, although the details are not known. I mention that because the purpose of this debate is to find out the details so that we can know for sure.

I met a number of the bidders prior to the process. I was concerned about the process and put my concerns to them, including my concern about the record of some of them. I mentioned to First, which was preparing its bid, my concerns regarding its franchise in the south of Wales. First said that it would learn the lessons, would not back-load as much in future and would look at the whole period. That is why I am raising this issue. Of course, First could not talk about the detail of the bid, but I was concerned that it had handed back the franchise on the south Wales route at great expense to the taxpayer.

[Mr Marcus Jones]

Did the hon. Gentleman raise his concerns directly with the Government when the draft invitation to tender was published, or did he wait until after that process was complete?

[Albert Owen]

Just to help the hon. Gentleman, I have been raising rail issues for many years. I am the son of a railway man. Yes, I have raised it with Conservative/Liberal Democrat and Labour Ministers.

As for the process, what was clear from my meetings with the potential bidders was that they could not speak about the detail, so we were not that concerned. Now that we have heard the outcome, we have concerns—genuine concerns—on behalf of the taxpayer and the fare payer. That is why it is important to have this debate and why I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire.

The west coast line is important to my constituency. It is an historical link with north Wales, but it also linked the capital of England with the capital of Ireland. Many of the trains that went from Euston to Holyhead carried the Royal Mail—the great Irish Mail trains—but another reason why the link was so important was that it brought Members of Parliament from Ireland to this place for important votes. In those days, Members of Parliament from different parts of the country had real influence over train services—less so today—and one of the reasons for the service was to get all those Irish MPs over.

I have taken a great interest in the line for many years, and I represent a railway town that was and still is a major employer in the area. Today, after many years of investment, in particular over the past decade, we have fast and frequent trains. Now the Super Voyagers or Class 221 trains can do the run from Holyhead to Euston in three hours and 40 minutes. On top of that, there has been an increase in the number of trains to Chester, which has helped my constituents going along the north Wales coast or those going to Anglesey on other occasions. Although having to change at Chester is not always nice, it is better than standing in Euston for hours, which we had to do in the 1980s and early ’90s when trains were less frequent.

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[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this important debate. As a member of the Backbench Business Committee, I welcome the first of the Monday debates, which rely on the public’s response to e-petitions.

The west coast main line is vital to many of my constituents, who, I must say, are a little perplexed, to say the least, about the whole saga of the letting of the west coast main line franchise. In the debate today, it is important for our constituents to understand that we are here, as Members of this House, without the power or jurisdiction to change anything at this point. It is important to state that the only people who can change the decision, unless the will of the Government changes after the judicial review, are the judiciary. The judicial process must be followed and Members must respect that process.

That said, there are general principles that we should discuss, but as MPs it would be a grave error to delve into the minutiae of each bid, because we have not seen the information first hand, and so are second-guessing from the claims and counter-claims of the different companies involved. The issues come under two categories: first, the franchise process itself; and, secondly, how the various bids were applied to the franchise criteria. To take the franchise process first: Virgin Trains and others, particularly Opposition Members, contend that the tendering process was flawed. I have concerns and scepticism about that argument. If flaws had been identified at the outset, before the draft invitation to tender or when the Government released it, we should have seen a robust challenge from the Opposition at that point.

[Maria Eagle]

As far as I am concerned, nobody on the Opposition Benches has suggested that the tendering process as it was undertaken was unfair. We do not know the details, which is why it is important to have a debate, to ask the Minister what he can tell us.

[Mr Jones]

I thank the shadow Minister for that comment, because it illustrates the crux of the issue. There is a lot of second-guessing and a lot of assumptions are being made. The people making those assumptions do not necessarily know the full facts. As I will come on to later in my comments, it is dangerous in any such tendering process for an MP or a Government to move the goal posts once the process has begun.

[Rosie Cooper]

rose—

[Mr Jones]

I will not give way at the moment, because other Members want to get in, but I will give the hon. Lady an opportunity in a few minutes.

There are a few questions about why Virgin or any other party did not raise such a high profile campaign at the outset. Why did we receive letters and ice lollies—I am not sure whether they were connected to this or were part of the Olympics—from Virgin Group on the train platform only once the bid was lost and Virgin had come in second? Why are Labour Members only now coming up with these concerns? They are not even giving their position on the matter. To me, it is a little like someone going to a restaurant and ordering liver, knowing that they do not like liver, and sending it back once it comes to the table and is put down in front of them. In the same way, we need to be careful what we wish for here.

For the Government’s part, it is important that once they have set a franchising process, it should be the benchmark against which the bids are judged. As I said in response to the intervention from the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle), it sets a dangerous precedent if, after the bids have come in and a tender has been let, we try to shift the goal posts to get the outcome that we were looking for. Not only would that completely undermine the tendering process, but there are obviously potential legal ramifications.

The critical question is whether the process was followed properly. If Department for Transport officials have not properly applied their own criteria to the bids, then yes, we have to acknowledge the concerns of Virgin Trains, and yes, the Government have to address any subsequent issues that might arise. At this point, that decision is a matter for the courts. It is dangerous as an MP to call for the franchise to be re-let on the basis of a petition, rather than an independent judgment to ensure that the correct procedure and process has been followed.

We should wait to see what the judicial review says, and if it is accepted by the court, the Government should deal with it appropriately at that point. If not, I will fully support the Government in signing the contract, on the basis of retaining the integrity of the tendering processes that they follow. For my constituents, the winning bidder at this point, FirstGroup, notwithstanding the legal case, is on the face of it offering the taxpayer a better deal and far better services to Nuneaton, which is what my constituents are looking for.