Rail Network (Disruption)

Debate between Tom Blenkinsop and Lord McLoughlin

Monday 5th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

London Bridge is going through one of the biggest transformations that any station is likely to go through. It has some 220,000 daily users, and this work cannot be undertaken without causing some disruption. Those of us who were using St Pancras station when it was experiencing disruption for many years will know that, at the end of the day, we ended up with a far better station. I accept my hon. Friend’s point about the in-between periods. The rail Minister and I will be more than happy to meet him and to talk through this programme, which is, as he says, going to go on for three years.

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

At what point was the Secretary of State aware of the contingency plan that Network Rail had put in place to funnel passengers to a clearly inadequate solution through Finsbury Park? Why were solutions such as using the Hertford loop or allowing commuters from north Yorkshire, Teesside and the north-east to use their tickets to go through St Pancras to Sheffield and Leeds, so that they could connect with Transpennine and other services, not examined?

Local Bus Services

Debate between Tom Blenkinsop and Lord McLoughlin

Wednesday 5th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I do not disagree with the hon. Gentleman on the desirability of easier access to the various modes of public transport, whether in relation to the trams and buses in his own area or to other forms of inter-modal change. He is absolutely right. When people turn up in a city that they are new to, they need to be able to get a better understanding of the public transport there, rather than having to find their way through a maze of information. I hope that recent advances in technology—they were not there five years ago so I cannot blame the last Government for not implementing them—will mean that bus and tram operators can all provide the much better service that passengers want for the longer term.

[Tom Blenkinsop]

I want to raise an issue relating to the Government’s record on concessionary travel for pensioners and disabled people using coach services. This Government removed that concessionary travel in 2011. Pensioners from my constituency who wanted to go to Newcastle, York or Leeds, for example, used to rely on those coach services, but they no longer exist. Will the Secretary of State look into that matter?

[Mr McLoughlin]

Everybody tries to look at the various services. I have not heard any commitments about new money from the Opposition in this regard. I am not sure whether they are committing today to putting more money into that particular area. Overall, I think we have a strong record. I have heard the shadow Chancellor say that the Opposition Front Bench will make no further commitments, in which case I do not see how they can reverse any of the many changes that have been made.

As I have said, we will spend nearly £1 billion on concessionary travel this year, and that relates not only to the funds that go into the public transport network. A huge amount of money also goes into public transport relating to education and to the health service.

Rail Franchising

Debate between Tom Blenkinsop and Lord McLoughlin

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who, along with colleagues from the Greater Anglia area, have given me a pamphlet setting out the changes being made. The Minister of State, Department for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns), does not lose an opportunity to tell us how we must improve the services used by not only my hon. Friend’s constituents, but his.

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State’s response to my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Hugh Bayley) was disturbing. He said that he was not bothered who would run the franchise or where they came from, and could not confirm where such a company would be headquartered. Can he not use the tendering process to ensure that these details are nailed down and that the headquarters are in the United Kingdom?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I fear that the hon. Gentleman is taking me out of context. What I said was that my main concern is the service to the passenger, which I care very much about and want to see improve. The location of the headquarters will be up to the individual franchisees when they put their case forward, and they may make strong representations.

High Speed Rail

Debate between Tom Blenkinsop and Lord McLoughlin

Monday 28th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I think the hon. Gentleman is referring to the great western spur, which is in the outline of the plans we have talked about for 2014 to 2019. As somebody who had a daughter who went to Aberystwyth university, I think that what he refers to would create some challenges for us.

[Tom Blenkinsop (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

Given the dire economic statistics that we saw on Friday, what will the Secretary of State be doing to ensure that those in the UK steel industry are given priority in procurement contracts for long steel products—I am thinking of sites such as Scunthorpe and Teesside beam mill—so that regions such as the north-east can benefit from this project?

[Mr McLoughlin]

The hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly reasonable point. I want to see British industry able to benefit from this. There will need to be competition, but I am pretty sure that British industry will be able to compete and provide the services we want and require. We will also be looking for engineers who can work on this scheme. Indeed, the construction phase will create many thousands of jobs, with, I think, the scheme creating many thousands of jobs for the longer-term future of the country.