David Black

Debate between Theresa Villiers and Tom Harris

Friday 2nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Villiers]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Of course, the PSNI would be happy to keep confidential the identities of people who approach it. It is entirely possible to approach the police in Northern Ireland on a completely confidential basis—people should have no fear about approaching them if they have any information about this recent tragedy or, indeed, any terrorist activity in Northern Ireland.

[Mr Tom Harris (Glasgow South) (Lab)]

May I associate myself and my constituents with the comments made this morning by the Secretary of State and my hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State? As Remembrance Sunday is just around the corner, some of us will remember with horror and sadness the events of 1987 at Enniskillen. Will the Secretary of State reassure us that appropriate security measures have been put in place this year? Does she agree that we should use this Remembrance Sunday not only to remember our fallen soldiers, but to pay tribute to all our prison officers whose lives have been so tragically lost in the troubles over the past few years?

[Mrs Villiers]

I am happy to provide the hon. Gentleman with an assurance that the Police Service of Northern Ireland is completely focused on keeping people safe and secure in Northern Ireland and combating terrorism. I am sure that it will be focused on ensuring that Remembrance Sunday is commemorated in a way that is safe and secure for the people of Northern Ireland. I agree that it will also provide a fitting opportunity for us all not just to reflect on the service provided by our dedicated servicemen and women in the military, but to consider the service, dedication, courage and bravery of our prison service as well.

Rail Fares

Debate between Theresa Villiers and Tom Harris

Wednesday 11th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Harris]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman, who also sits on the Transport Committee, is as much of an expert as any other Member, and I will agree to consider his comments.

The Prime Minister was wrong today and failed to give the facts about the policy of the last Labour Government and the policy of this Government. Even if it was for only one year, Lord Adonis managed to challenge the rail industry on the so-called basket of fares and whether the RPI plus 1% policy should apply to individual fares or to a basket of fares. He got a lot of support on both sides of the House for insisting—against the arguments of his own officials and the resistance of the industry—that that policy should apply only to individual fares. As we know, if it is applied to a basket of fares, some can go up by 6%, instead of 1%. Whether or not that was a temporary agreement for one year, surely when a new franchise is let the Minister has a responsibility to challenge the industry and set such an arrangement in stone at the very start.

When the railways were first privatised, the policy—it was then RPI minus 1%—was applied to a basket of fares, as agreed with Ministers. That was what Lord Adonis succeeded in challenging, but sadly only for one year. Will the Secretary of State give a commitment that, in future new franchises, the Adonis approach will be applied to fares to protect fare payers and to ensure that train operating companies take money out of their own pockets, rather than the pockets of fare-paying passengers?

[Mrs Villiers]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Mr Harris]

I only have six minutes and the Minister will have plenty of time to wind up at the end of the debate.

I hope that the Secretary of State will not take the same path as has been followed in Scotland, where the SNP Government—for the first time since the 1960s and Beeching—are threatening to close stations, including Kennishead in my constituency, even as passenger numbers are increasing there and throughout the network. That is a disgraceful approach for any so-called progressive Government to take, and I hope that the Secretary of State will make a commitment that she will not close stations or lines in the rest of the country.

It is too easy to criticise rail services and forget some of the major advances that have been made since privatisation, but at the crucial interface between train and customer, there is a growing crisis of affordability—on the personal level, rather than the national taxpayer level.

--- Later in debate ---

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

Time is too short to refer to every contribution to today’s debate, but I welcome all those that have been made.

The hon. Member for Glasgow South (Mr Harris) criticised a fares system that he presided over as rail Minister. My hon. Friend the Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond), along with many others, pointed out that RPI plus 1 and above-inflation fare increases were introduced under the Labour Government and did not start under the coalition.

The hon. Member for Pontypridd (Owen Smith) commented on the Government’s continuation of a major investment programme and called for a simpler ticketing system. My hon. Friend the Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert) also welcomed our commitment to a programme of rail improvements that is probably the biggest since the Victorian era. He welcomed the fact that we had been able to prioritise it despite the deficit because of the difficult decisions that we have made in other areas. My hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes South (Iain Stewart) welcomed the progress on East West Rail and made some important points about how fares operate.

The hon. Member for Bolton West (Julie Hilling) made a moving speech about the hardship that her constituents are feeling. As for buses, we are of course doing all that we can within the constraints of the fiscal straitjacket created by the deficit that we were left by Labour. Within those constraints we are of course striving to help those who are facing hardship with the cost of living.

My hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) pointed out the impracticalities of having a single uniform peak throughout the country and that the Opposition transport team appear not to have read the speeches made by their leader or the shadow Chancellor. I particularly liked my hon. Friend’s reference to the game of policy Twister that they have unfortunately had to play today.

The hon. Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander) commented on the concern about the effect of inflation and fare rises. That is exactly the concern that the Chancellor responded to in his autumn statement in putting the limit on the average rise in national rail, tube and bus fares at RPI plus 1. That help for people struggling with the cost of living was welcomed by my hon. Friends the Members for Fylde (Mark Menzies), for Cambridge and for Milton Keynes South. We ought to pay tribute to the Secretary of State for her role in that. We were able to do that at the same time as delivering a major investment programme only because of savings made elsewhere in government to tackle the deficit—the kind of spending reductions that Labour has consistently opposed.

[Mr Tom Harris]

“Many families are feeling the pinch because of stratospheric fare increases—racing ahead of inflation—inflicted by the Department.”—[Official Report, 24 July 2007; Vol. 463, c. 691.] Those are not my words, but those of the Minister in this House. Can she point out any improvements that have been made since then?

[Mrs Villiers]

The former rail Minister has made my point for me. The Opposition must be suffering from collective amnesia if they think that this problem suddenly appeared in May 2010 when the coalition took over. In 2006, a Labour-dominated Select Committee described the Labour Government as “breathtakingly complacent” on value for money in fares. The truth is that concern about rail fares has been growing for years, as my hon. Friends the Members for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Mr Evennett), for St Albans (Mrs Main) and for Milton Keynes South have said.

A major reason for the increases is that under Labour the cost of running the railways spiralled and hard-pressed passengers and taxpayers were left to foot the bill. It is fair that passengers contribute to the cost of running the railways and to the massive programme of upgrades that we are taking forward, but neither fare payers nor taxpayers should have to pay for industry inefficiency. This Government understand how vital it is to get the cost of running the railways down and to tackle the legacy of inefficiency that we inherited from Labour. That is the long-term, sustainable solution to delivering better value for money for taxpayers and fare payers.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs Villiers]

The hon. Lady need not worry as I will come on to the fares basket in a moment. Before I do, it is crucial to say that we are determined to deliver our goal of ending the era of above-inflation fare rises. The only long-term, sustainable solution to delivering better value for money for taxpayers and fare payers is to get the cost of running the railways down, not the short-term, uncosted, poorly thought-through proposals that we have heard from the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) this afternoon.

We have started reform already, with the reform of the franchising system and our commitment to further electrification to reduce costs. We are also determined to see the rail industry working together better, with a strong shared incentive to reduce costs and deliver better outcomes for passengers.

Another key plank of getting the cost of the railways down is making working practices on the railways more efficient. When Labour was in charge, pay in the rail sector rose more than twice as fast as it did in the economy more widely. Difficult decisions may lie ahead, and I do not believe Labour is capable of taking those decisions where the interests of the unions conflict with the goal of getting better value for money for passengers.

[Mr Tom Harris]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mrs Villiers]

No.

Labour failed to deal with the problem in government, and its heavy dependence on union funding would make it utterly incapable of dealing with it if the country were unwise enough to return a Labour Government. If the Opposition were really serious about getting better value for money for passengers, they would not be making glib announcements in the House; they would be remonstrating with their friends in the rail unions about a responsible approach to pay, from the boardroom to the platform.

I turn now to the fares basket and the flat cap on prices. Frankly, the shadow Secretary of State was in all sorts of trouble on the matter. The claim made by her and the Leader of the Opposition that the suspension of the cap was an ongoing policy, representing a dramatic change of heart by Lord Adonis, is simply not borne out by the facts of what Lord Adonis did in government.

[Mr Harris]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mrs Villiers]

No. The hon. Gentleman did not do anything about the flat cap in his entire time as a rail Minister, so I will not take his intervention on the matter.

Lord Adonis inserted in the franchise contracts a one-year suspension of the flat cap. That conflicts with what the shadow Secretary of State said today.

[Mr Harris]

I promise it is the last time, but will the Minister give way?

[Mrs Villiers]

No.

More important, the shadow Secretary of State has given us no indication of just how much it would cost to repeal the fares basket provision. Amazingly, she did not even seem to understand that it would have a cost. I can assure her that it would. She has given no credible explanation of how Labour would pay for the change, and whether it would come from higher fares, higher taxes, cuts in services, the cancelling of extra carriages or upgrades or more borrowing.

Just one day after the Leader of the Opposition finally acknowledged that dealing with Labour’s deficit means that there is no more money left to spend and said that the Opposition would take a more responsible approach, the shadow Secretary of State stood at the Dispatch Box making spending commitment after spending commitment on rail fares, concessionary bus travel, local government funding, school transport, VAT—the list goes on and on. She and the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood), made several billion pounds of commitments today.

The truth is that when it comes to the cost of living and the economy, Labour just does not get it. It must be just about the only political party in the world arguing that the way to get out of a debt crisis is by borrowing more money. Whether it is a credit card bill or the international gilts market, that simply does not work. There is no way that interest rates could have stayed at today’s low levels without the action that we have taken to deal with the deficit and avert the crisis enveloping other European countries with public finance positions almost as bad as ours.

In government, Labour brought this country to the brink of bankruptcy, leaving Britain with one of the biggest structural deficits in the developed world. Today’s debate demonstrates that, contrary to what the Leader of the Opposition said, Labour has learned nothing in opposition. The biggest threat to the cost of living in this country is the spiralling interest rates that we would get if we gave way to the demands that Labour makes every single day in the House for more and more spending.

It is clear that if Labour had won the last election—thankfully it did not—it would have utterly failed to take the tough decisions needed to get the deficit under control. That would have had disastrous consequences for the cost of living for millions of families right across the nation. I urge the House to reject the motion.

Question put.

Rail Investment

Debate between Theresa Villiers and Tom Harris

Thursday 17th February 2011 Westminster Hall

[Mr Harris]

That is undoubtedly the case, but I do not accept that that is necessarily an immovable barrier to innovation. Network Rail is the greatest purchaser and procurer in the whole of the industry and it works in the long term. Frankly, many of the manufacturing companies that rely on contracts from Network Rail want to deal in long-term investment and want a long-term reassurance that the work will be there 10 or 20 years down the line. If the will is there, innovation can happen and, as I have said, that is irrespective of whether the industry is privately or publicly owned.

I shall say a few words about High Speed 2. I have long been a supporter of the project, although not on environmental grounds. As Rod Eddington said in his 2006 report, there may well be a case for high speed on capacity grounds, but there is probably not an environmental case. In addition, there is probably not a great case in terms of connectivity, because Britain is a relatively small country and is already pretty well connected. However, there is a case for high speed on capacity grounds. When we get letters and complaints from our constituents, apart from fares, capacity is the burning issue at the moment. It has been for a number of years and will continue to be until we do something serious about capacity. HS2 will relieve capacity on the west coast main line, and I hope that it will do something for freight as well.

I worry about the debate that is developing in this country on HS2 and that supporters of it are dismissing out of hand the concerns of people who live along the line and colleagues who represent communities based along the line. I hope that we can conduct that debate in a more consensual and less provocative manner.

[Mrs Villiers]

The hon. Gentleman is too pessimistic when he says that the supporters of HS2 dismiss the concerns of local communities. As far as I know, the vast majority of supporters of HS2, including the Government, take those concerns very seriously. We believe that significant efforts need to be made to mitigate what will inevitably have some local impact on communities.

[Mr Harris]

I accept the Minister’s reassurance on that. I simply speak from the point of view of reading reports of the debate that is going on. I am not trying to separate the arguments; I am trying to bring people together. I make the point that people’s concerns are not down to nimbyism or the fact that they are selfish or somehow anti-public transport. People have valid concerns, which can be overcome. HS2 is a nationally important strategic piece of infrastructure that must go ahead for the good of the country, but we cannot sweep those concerns under the carpet. I have heard the Minister say that those concerns will not be swept under the carpet, and I therefore hope that between now and when construction starts, we can come to some kind of agreement and compromise. We need to accept that those concerns are absolutely valid and that people have a perfect right to protest and raise concerns about something that might well have an adverse impact on their local environment. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak, Mr Owen.