Stephen Morgan
Main Page: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)Department Debates - View all Stephen Morgan's debates with the Department for Transport
(4 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Stephen Morgan (Portsmouth South) (Lab)
In the five years since the Government first admitted that reform of our railways was needed, passenger services have gone from bad to worse, with a train now cancelled every 90 seconds—the worse statistics on record. With the Transport Secretary openly admitting that any reforms this side of an election are unlikely, does the Minister understand why passengers have given up on this Government doing anything to improve their rail experience?
Huw Merriman
I do not agree with that assertion. Post privatisation—nationalisation would reverse this—passenger numbers have doubled, and £100 billion has been invested in the railways by this Government since 2010. We look at performance, which of course we want to get better, but in March for example, 70% of trains were running to time, with 2.9% of cancellations. The two biggest cancellation failures during March were one trespass and one suicide, and the trespass alone caused 286 cancellations. Yes, there is more we need to do, but the Opposition Front-Bench team would have a lot more credibility if they recognised performance indicators and what parts we need to deliver, rather than just chucking dogma about nationalisation, which is a tired, failed old policy.