Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander's Speech at Labour Party Conference 2025

Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander's Speech at Labour Party Conference 2025.

Conference, it is an enormous privilege to stand before you today as Transport Secretary in our Labour Government.

This time three years ago, I stood on this stage as Labour's newly selected parliamentary candidate in Swindon South.  

I went from candidate to Secretary of State in the space of 18 months - not a journey I ever dreamed I would make, but one which fills me with pride and determination every day.  

Conference, journeys matter.  

Some might say that transport is just about getting from A to B.

But we know it's about so much more.  

It's about opportunity. It's about dignity.  

It's not just about timetables and infrastructure.

It's about young people being able to get their first Saturday job.  

It's about whether a parent can get home to read their child a bedtime story.

It's about a pensioner getting to see their friend.

And transport has one simple truth: when it fails, life is harder.    

Opportunities become narrower. Communities more isolated.

The brutal reality of the last decade has been a transport system in decline.  

A decade where bus services were cut and rail services delayed.  

New infrastructure promised, but shamefully never funded.  

Tory neglect seen most graphically in our broken, potholed roads.  

Conference, never again can we entrust our transport system to the charlatans of the right.  

Conference, the choice before the country is simple - renewal with Labour or decline with Reform.  

It starts by us putting our money where our mouth is.

Thanks to our Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, we are making the biggest ever investment in local transport in England's city-regions.

So working with our brilliant Labour Mayors we will:

Expand the Tyne & Wear Metro to Washington; extend the tram to East Birmingham; and bring a rapid transit system to Liverpool.

We'll build new stations at Portishead and Pill in the West Country, reopen Haxby Station on the outskirts of York, and improve rail, road and bus connections in the East Midlands.  

We'll fund zero-emission buses in Greater Manchester; a new fleet of trams for South Yorkshire, and new Piccadilly and Elizabeth Line trains for London.

And, Tracy, we will end the scandal of Leeds being the largest city in Europe without a metro, and we will build mass transit for West Yorkshire.  

Conference, it's not just enough to improve transport within our great cities. We need to link them up better too.

So let me be absolutely clear: this Government is fully committed to Northern Powerhouse Rail.  

But what we won't do Conference is repeat the mistakes of the past, where Governments made promises with no plan to deliver them.

New infrastructure will be the physical embodiment of our ambition.

But we need to get the basics right too.  

Let's be honest catching the bus can be an ordeal.

Ticket options that don't make sense.

Timetables that bear no relation to reality.

Our landmark Bus Services Bill - piloted through Parliament by my good friend Simon Lightwood puts an end to this.

Ending the Tories' failed deregulation experiment.

And transferring power from private operators to local leaders.  

Be in no doubt, conference - better buses are on their way!

Conference, it's not just our buses which need fixing.  

For too long our railways have been run in the interests of private profit, not passengers.  

The Tories stood by and watched as delays, cancellations, and overcrowding became the norm – as did the soaring profits of owning groups.

Conference, I have one thing to say to you: Not on my watch.

This Labour Government is calling time on thirty years of failure, frustration and fragmentation.

We are returning our railways to the service of passengers.  

And we're not wasting a minute.  

In the first 12 months of this Government, we passed our landmark Public Ownership Act, took South Western and c2c into public hands, with Greater Anglia to follow in just two weeks' time.  

In February, West Midlands Trains will be next with Thameslink, Chiltern, and Great Western to follow.

At that point more than half of the rail network will be publicly owned.  

And under the leadership of our Rail Minister Peter Hendy, we will steer our Railways Bill through Parliament, setting up Great British Railways to unite the management of track and train.  

No more Sundays wondering whether the train is going to turn up, no more baffling arrays of ticket types and prices - a public service where reliability is the watchword and pride is restored. 

We said we would do it in our manifesto and Conference, we are delivering.

This is personal for me.

I worked for four years with the men and women of London Underground. We fought Covid together and brought in the Elizabeth Line.   

I grew up in the proud railway town of Swindon, where my Dad began his career as an electrical apprentice for British Rail.  

The railways aren't just part of my story.  

They're the story of my town and many more like it.

In Swindon, the famous GWR maintenance works arrived in the 1840s, changing the town forever.  

Today buildings that were once locomotive sheds are now home to retail, film and digital businesses. 

Once again our railways must be the catalyst of regeneration and the engine of progress.  

Stations that become the beating heart of town centres. New homes and workplaces built on old depot land and poorly used car parks.   

Local leaders in the driving seat - unlocking the potential of our railways way beyond the tracks.  

Conference, Great British Railways is coming soon: and it will be run by the people, for the people.

Conference, if our buses and trains are the arteries of our economy, our roads are its backbone.  

This Labour Government knows that poorly maintained roads not only risk lives but also cost families and businesses hundreds of pounds in costly garage trips.

That's why we're ending the pothole plague.  

We're handing councils the cash and certainty they need to mend our broken roads.  

And let me be clear: under this Labour Government there is no such thing as a war on the motorist.  

Never has been, never will be.  

I drive. But guess what? I walk. I cycle too.  

And so does our brilliant local transport minister Lilian Greenwood. 

We both take buses, trains, trams and taxis too.

So let's dispense with the imaginary problems that are conjured up by conspiracists and cranks and let's focus on solving the real world problems instead.   

Conference, our transport system of course extends beyond our shores too.    

Enabling international trade. Tourism. Visits to friends and extended family.  

Our ports and airports are every bit as vital as our stations and roads.  

It's a fact that more people want to fly to and from the UK than ever before.  

And air travel isn't just for Nigel Farage to go to America, or for Richard Tice to spend his weekends in Dubai – it's for everyone.

Families deserve their hard-earned summer holiday – and neither I nor our new Aviation Minister, Keir Mather will ever say otherwise.

And though we have more meetings online now than we once did, UK businesses still need a thriving aviation sector to trade.

That's why we have acted quickly and decisively.

We've approved expansion plans at City Airport, Luton, and, just last week, at Gatwick.  

We are supporting Labour Mayor Oliver Coppard and the Labour leaders of South Yorkshire to reopen Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

And we've invited proposals for a third runway at Heathrow.

For too long, this country has been held back by a planning system which has strangled growth.  

That ends now.  

We won't duck the difficult decisions – because we know that if you do, you give up on the thousands of good quality jobs our country so desperately needs.  

Now Conference, none of what I'm talking to you about today happens by magic. 

So to the people who keep our country moving every day, I say thank you.

The cleaning staff working overnight to keep our transport hubs clean.

The engineers out in the rain keeping the tracks safe.

The drivers carrying millions of all of us every year.

Thank you on behalf of the families you support, and the communities you serve.

And conference, let me say this. Change won't happen without us having the courage to face up to difficult decisions.  

The path of renewal will not be easy.  

But under the leadership of Keir Starmer, we are turning our transport system around.

Imagine buses you can rely on.

Imagine roads safe for all.

Imagine trains that serve the public.

It may sound ambitious, Conference -but it's easy if you try.

So let's never stop trying. Let's build the transport system Britain deserves.

Thank you very much.