Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill

Wendy Morton Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 29th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)]

I congratulate you on your new role, Madam Deputy Speaker. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) on making his maiden speech. I am sure that he will learn and appreciate, as the weeks, months and even years go by, that there are times when we will argue and debate in this place, but there are many things that we also have in common. Like him, I left school and did not go to university until much later in life. The other common point I will mention—I will come to this in my contribution—is the importance of rail links to our local communities. They create a link to opportunity for young and old alike. I sincerely wish him well.

I was clear in my contribution to the King’s Speech debate that where I agree with the Government, I will say so. As a former Rail Minister, I would be one of the first to agree that the rail system needs reform. Post pandemic, we have seen that commuting and business travel have changed beyond all recognition, but so too has leisure travel, and the demand has changed greatly. The current system needs to make greater use of the public-private model, but crucially, it must also have a greater passenger focus.

There are 20 franchise train operating companies in Great Britain, with—let us be honest—levels of operational performance and cancellations that vary dramatically, as I am sure all across the House would agree. There is nothing more frustrating for someone than arriving at the train station on their way home at the end of the day, or at the end of the week from this place, only to find that their train is delayed or, worse still, has been cancelled.

For example, at one end of the spectrum, we have Avanti West Coast, one of the worst performers; its contract expires in 2026. Let us contrast that with West Midlands trains, one of the much better performers; its contract expires in September this year. I would hope that if the new Government were truly passenger-focused and wanted to get us moving forward, they would seek to address the worst performers first.

I have a few questions that I hope the Secretary of State or her Minister will answer in their summing up. What does the Bill actually mean for passengers? I have yet to understand that fully. I have yet to hear the Secretary of State confirm that prices will be cheaper, but perhaps she can do so today. We have heard that there will be a focus on the taxpayer, but what about the traveller? For too many, rail travel is still unaffordable, and I fear that it will become more unaffordable under these proposals.

What about the other aspects of the services? Will cleaning contracts be nationalised? What about catering? Will we see a return to the days of the British Rail sandwich? I do not think I am quite old enough to remember those days, but I have it on good authority that the British rail sandwich is somewhat emblematic of the unappetising fare of the nationalisation of our railways.

What about ticket offices and ticketing? We have heard that there should be improvements to ticketing, but what plans does the Secretary of State have? Will she keep them open or close them? Will there be more staff out on the platform to help passengers?

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South and South Bedfordshire) (Lab)]

The right hon. Member mentioned ticket office closures. I remind her that that was the proposal from her previous Government.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wendy Morton]

It may well have been, but I am here to scrutinise the Government of the day. I will be the first to recognise that where ticket offices are selling one ticket a day, it makes much better sense to have those operators out on the platform helping people with, for example, accessibility issues and the machines. This whole point is about being truly passenger-focused.

I would also like to better understand what the investment will be in the training of train drivers. It takes a very long time for a train driver to be fully trained for any given route. Without a sufficient number of train drivers, we end up being in hock to the unions. Similarly, I would like to understand whether the new Government truly believe in a seven-day railway service, because that is what passengers expect. We expect trains to operate not just from Monday to Friday, but for seven days a week. I would therefore expect any rail operator, particularly under nationalisation, to offer that service as well.

On open access, I would like a greater understanding of what that model will look like. Will it be kept or not? The reason I ask that is really parochial and community-focused. My constituency is one of the very few that does not have a train station. Hon. Members may become rather tired of me saying this in the forthcoming weeks and months, but under the former Mayor of the West Midlands, we secured funding through the city region sustainable transport settlements, working with the council to move forward. We have the train line and the site identified for the car park. Everything was going forward. We even have an open access operator that is looking to put in a service from Wales direct to Euston, which would be an absolute game-changer for young and old alike in my constituency.

Sadly, the new Mayor of the West Midlands will not confirm that that project is going ahead; he prefers to hide behind a review. And after today’s announcement by the Chancellor, I fear that she is probably backing him and encouraging him down that route. As ever, though, I remain hopeful and wait to be convinced otherwise.

As we have heard today, Great British Railways is not an entirely new idea. When we were in government, our plan was to set it up as a public entity, joining track and train across the country. However, what we have in front of us today is very different: we have ideological nationalisation, risking taxpayers’ money, and a plan that the Government cannot confirm will reduce costs or increase capacity or reliability. In short, it does not put the fare-paying passenger first—this is a political choice.

[Mr Speaker]

I call Paul Foster to make his maiden speech.

Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill

Wendy Morton Excerpts

Committee of the whole House
Tuesday 3rd September 2024 Commons Chamber

I stand here as a woman of colour, alongside many others from different backgrounds, and as a proud product of multiculturalism who now has the honour and privilege of being the voice of the people of Sheffield Central and beyond. I am here to listen, to learn, to serve and to act in the best interests of all our communities.

[Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) (Con)]

It was a real privilege to listen to the hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed). Her passion for the constituency that she has been elected to represent shone through in her speech, and I congratulate her on being the first British Arab woman to be elected to Parliament. I really enjoyed listening to what I would best describe as a picture portrait, in her words, of her constituency. I will reflect on that next time I drive up or down the M1—while also concentrating on my driving, of course.

Let me now turn to the Bill. I rise to support the Opposition amendments, particularly amendments 10, 12, 15 and 17. As others have said, this is a short Bill, but I believe that its aims are radical and ideological. It will completely change our rail system, removing the presumption in favour of private sector operation of passenger services and allowing the Government to bring those operators into public ownership when a franchise ends. In short, I see this move as nationalisation and, indeed, ideologicalisation.

Although the Bill introduces such fundamental change, it is also being rushed through this place with limited scrutiny, for just four hours for Committee consideration. Smaller Bills have sat in Bill Committees for many more sessions. In fact, I think that a private Member’s Bill of mine spent more time in Committee than this. I am disappointed because there seems to be scant regard for what these changes will cost. I am also disappointed because I think the Bill should be considered alongside the railways Bill, which is yet to be published, and from my perspective that makes the scrutiny of the Bill, particularly at this stage, even more important.

I agree that the current model is not working. I am a former Rail Minister, and when we were in government we acknowledged the need to change and made the case for rail reform. However, that reform was about simplification, not nationalisation. It was about bringing the track closer to the trains and putting the passenger first.

Let me begin with amendments 10 and 12. I do not think we should underestimate the need for strict scrutiny, accountability and transparency. At the end of the day, that is what we on the Opposition side of the Chamber are here to provide. Without the additional measures proposed in the amendments, it seems very unclear how the shift from franchise to public ownership will work, and how its impact will be assessed. How will the costs be monitored, and where will investment in future rolling stock come from?

Another problem with the Bill in its current form is the arbitrary transfer of franchises to public ownership, based not on performance but simply on chronological franchise date. I raised that on Second Reading. West Midlands Trains, for example, is one of the better performers, but its contract expires this month. Contrast that with Avanti West Coast. As many Members have probably experienced when travelling to this place, it is currently one of the worst operators, yet its contract expires in 2026.

My reason for supporting the amendments is to ensure that, through stricter reporting and oversight of the new operators, we will see targets that are linked to performance and innovation. It is important that they are also linked to managerial pay, and it is all about keeping the passenger at the heart of what we are doing. It is also important to look closely at how the operator of last resort will manage the many more train services that will fall under its remit. I am not quite sure whether the OLR will have more resource to do that—hence the need to have accounts and monitor what is happening.

It is also important to understand how and where decisions about infrastructure and investment are being made. I will cite the example of the midlands rail hub, which the last Conservative Government committed to. It is absolutely critical to growth and improvements in services, and not just in Birmingham but across the west midlands and other regions. I would like to understand how some of the investments will be progressed under the new model, and how they will be held to account.

Amendment 15 seeks to address the issue of open access operators. Again, I raised this issue at Second Reading and, to be fair, the Rail Minister wrote to me and confirmed that there will remain a role for open access services, alongside publicly owned services. I welcome that, not least because it gives me a reason to continue to bang on about the need for the Government to support the bid for open access for services from Wales to London Euston via Aldridge. However, we need a train station in order for the train to stop in Aldridge, and we want it to be built by 2027 and not pushed into the sidings by the new Labour mayor. So forgive me, Madam Chairman, but I will keep talking about that until we see it delivered, not least because residents are expecting it to happen.

Amendment 15 seeks to carve out the space for open access operators and ensure that there is fairness in the awarding of contracts, which will be critical moving forward. I genuinely believe that there is a place for both the current system of providing train services and open access operators. Generally speaking, a lot of them have proved their value to the passenger and the taxpayer.

I will touch briefly on amendment 17, which is about reforming terms and conditions. I welcome the breakthrough in the pay talks, which is very positive, but it is really disappointing that it has done nothing to address the urgent need for reform of some of the terms and conditions. I see that as being crucial for the future stability of rail passenger services and for having the passenger-focused, seven-days-a-week service that the fare-paying passenger expects. Without the tools to scrutinise the ideologically driven changes, there is a real risk that the Bill fails not just the taxpayer, but fare-paying passengers, as many Members have highlighted this afternoon.

Finally, for constituents to be able to enjoy any benefits of rail travel, they need access to a local station. I will close my remarks by referring to Aldridge, because it is just one of a handful of constituencies that have a track but no train station. I urge the Minister to join me in pushing his colleagues in the Treasury and the West Midlands combined authority to help me deliver a train station for Aldridge on time.

[The First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (Judith Cummins)]

I call Julia Buckley to make her maiden speech.