Oral Answers to Questions

Ronnie Cowan Excerpts

Thursday 29th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I do not recognise the picture that the hon. Gentleman has painted. We have electrified way more miles of rail than any previous Labour Government. The Government have stood behind the railways. A huge amount of money is going into our rail system at this point in time; nearly £12 billion over the course of the last year—money that would not have been able to be spent under a Labour Administration, because the economy would have been in tatters and we would have been in a very different place.

[Ronnie Cowan (Inverclyde) (SNP)]

What discussions he has had with the (a) Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and (b) devolved Administrations on the global travel taskforce and restarting cruises as covid-19 restrictions are eased.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Robert Courts)]

The Department for Transport engages regularly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the devolved Administrations and the cruise industry on the global travel taskforce and cruise restart. Travel advice is the responsibility of the FCDO.

[Ronnie Cowan [V]]

My constituency of Inverclyde hosts over 80 visits from international cruise ships each year. They make a valued contribution to the local economy and, when the time is right, we look forward to welcoming them back. However, with health to the fore, can the Minister tell me how the travel regime operates under the traffic light system with countries that have emerging variants of concern, or a prevalent spread of variants, and in what ways will the Government seek to react in good time to prevent transmission?

[Robert Courts]

The hon. Member is right to draw attention to the huge economic importance of the cruise industry to constituencies such as Inverclyde. My Department continues to work closely with the FCDO and with the Department of Health and Social Care. A covid-19 framework drawn up by the cruise industry informs health protocols on board those ships. That has been recognised as good practice by the UN’s International Maritime Organisation. We will see a safe restart of international cruises in accordance with those protocols.