UK Bus Manufacturing
Tracy Gilbert Excerpts(2 days, 11 hours ago)
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Tracy Gilbert (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank) and the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) on securing this important debate. My contribution will be short; it will focus on the Government’s approach to securing the manufacturing jobs we have already in the UK, and how we can expand that number further.
My hon. Friend will be very happy that my Edinburgh constituents ride on buses manufactured in his constituency every day, so much so that since 2018 Lothian Buses has purchased 180 buses from Alexander Dennis. In 2018, Lothian Buses and Alexander Dennis unveiled a brand new 100-seater double-decker bus. Even stepping on these buses today, they feel state of the art, with increased driver safety and passenger convenience. In 2021, Lothian Buses started testing four Enviro400EV double-decker buses, which were the result of an electric vehicle partnership between Alexander Dennis and BYD UK. This kind of partnership demonstrates the work and innovation already under way in manufacturing to decarbonise the transport that we use across our cities every day.
Lothian Buses is the largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom. It will come as no surprise to many of us that a municipal bus company, working with the same procurement policies and constraints as other bus companies, has supported local manufacturing. Ownership matters, and Lothian Buses demonstrates that municipal ownership leads to positive economic benefits for the people such companies serve. I am keen to hear from the Minister whether the Government have further plans to support or encourage municipal ownership to ensure that the decisions on services, standards and operations are always made for the benefit of passengers.
Oral Answers to Questions
Tracy Gilbert Excerpts(11 months, 2 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Heidi Alexander
I assure the hon. Gentleman that I do not lack any ambition when it comes to Great British Railways. It would cost billions in taxpayers’ money to buy existing rolling stock, at a time when there are many pressures on the public purse. My officials have been engaging regularly with EUROFIMA to consider the potential for UK membership and how EUROFIMA finance could be deployed in the UK.
Tracy Gilbert (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Lilian Greenwood)
The Department recognises the critical importance of the east coast main line and has invested £4 billion in a combination of infrastructure enhancements and rolling stock upgrades that will help to deliver journey time, reliability and capacity improvements. The full benefit of this investment will be felt with the introduction of a revised timetable in December 2025. The Department continues to work closely with Network Rail to explore opportunities to improve performance and resilience.
Tracy Gilbert
My constituents have raised concerns about the reliability of services on the east coast main line, with one constituent receiving delay repay compensation for five out of six journeys he took over a two-month period. I welcome the correspondence I have had with the Rail Minister on the action that the Department for Transport is taking with rail partners, including through the east coast digital programme. Will my hon. Friend confirm that the first trains utilising new digital signalling technology will be on the tracks by the end of the year? When does she expect passengers to feel the full benefit of this welcome upgrade?
Lilian Greenwood
The east coast digital programme is delivering digital signalling on 100 miles of the east coast main line. The technology will deliver an inherent improvement to service reliability and uplift performance and capacity across the line, including for my hon. Friend’s constituents. The first trains are forecast to start running under digital signalling from early 2026. The number of services running under digital signalling will increase until the full programme is expected to be complete in the early 2030s.