Grant Shapps gives evidence to Transport Committee

The Transport Select Committee today took evidence from the new Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, focussing on his priorities for the department. 

On electric vehicles, he felt the country was on the "cusp of the tipping point" with a behavioural change taking place and charging points increasing.

He said one of his priorities was to get the trains to run on time. He and the Prime Minister had agreed on the importance of Northern Powerhouse rail. There had been speculation about the sustainability of the Northern franchise and he had already issued a request for proposals from Arriva and an operator of last resort. The status quo was not acceptable but he could not go into commercial details.

Mr Shapps explained the internal workings of the DfT. The reasons for increasing the number of ministers from five to six included the fact that the department was responsible for infrastructure as well as transport.

On buses, Mr Shapps said he had been looking at powers outside of London provided to local areas and thought he would shortly be making an announcement on that.

The committee was disappointed at the absence in the Queen's Speech of regulation of the taxi industry.