Extract from Committee
stage (Lords)(day 1) of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels)
Bill
(Lab):...I turn
now to minimum standards. I have forgotten the name of the rail
operator in the north-west that constantly uses a clause in its
service contract to cancel trains the night before, so that
people who are planning to go to work the next day will not know
that they do not have a train to go to work. I would be grateful
to the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, if she could shout out its
name from a sedentary position.
(LD)
The Transpennine Express.
(Lab)
The Transpennine Express
uses that clause, and that is why the public can see through this
legislation. This is not about maintaining minimum service
levels; this comes back to the basic, fundamental idea that this
is an attack on organised labour and its ability to protect its
workers. It is the thin end of the wedge, as it were: we started
off with transport minimum service levels and then the Government
thought, “It is very difficult to define how that will work, so
let’s not do that, because we will be forced to define what a
minimum service level is in the rail industry and we will have to
account to Parliament for that. So let’s go the whole hog: let’s
get a skeleton Bill which simply gives us the powers to set
minimum service levels across a whole range of services and
occupations.” They say that they are focused on public services,
but of course most transport services are well outside the public
sector and have been for a long time, including aviation...
For context, OPEN HERE
Extracts from Business
Questions
(Great Grimsby)
(Con): Today, if someone wanted to travel to or from Grimsby
by train, they would find it very difficult. There is one train
leaving Grimsby at around 2 pm, and another train back into
Grimsby at 8.40 pm. Transpennine Express
has offered the unions overtime of £480 a day, but the unions
have refused it, and now my constituents cannot get anywhere by
train. Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is about time the
unions stopped playing with people’s lives and the levelling-up
agenda and got back to work properly?
The Leader of the House of Commons (): I am very sorry to
hear of the situation in my hon. Friend’s constituency. That is
clearly not acceptable. We often say that we want more people to
use public transport and leave their cars behind, but for many
people the car is their only option. We must ensure those
services work, and she is right in her assessment. The next
Transport questions is not until 20 April, so I will write this
afternoon on her behalf and bring that to the Transport
Secretary’s attention.
(Cleethorpes)
(Con): May I add my words of support to my hon. Friend the
Member for Great Grimsby () for raising the issue of the
appalling—in fact, almost non-existent—services provided
by Transpennine Express?
Today there is an eight-hour gap between services, but it should
be an hourly service. Would it be possible for the Transport
Secretary to come to the House to make a statement and assure us
that TransPennine’s franchise will not be
renewed and that he will give the final approval to restoring the
direct train service between Grimsby, Cleethorpes and King’s
Cross, which would alleviate many of the problems?
: I am very sorry to
hear about this situation. Given that Transport Question Time is
some way off, as I said, I will write to make sure the Secretary
of State has heard my hon. Friend’s concerns. We will not have to
draft a new letter, just change the date, because he has raised
the matter many times in this place. I hope it is swiftly
resolved for his constituents.
(York Central)
(Lab/Co-op): The state of our railways is deeply concerning,
with rising passenger costs set against poor service delivery on
the Transpennine Express.
In York, our digital and advanced rail cluster is being held back
by the delayed Government announcement about the Great British
Railways headquarters. Can we have a statement to set out how the
Government are going to fix our broken rail network and unlock
GBR?
: I thank the hon. Lady
for that statement. She knows that there may be announcements
coming forward on related matters—I do not know, but it might be
something that the Chancellor touches on in the Budget statement.
Transport questions are a little way off, so I shall write to
make sure that the Secretary of State has heard her concerns.
