I start by declaring an interest. I am proud of the fact that I am a trade unionist and have strong links to the transport unions, particularly Unite, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, and ASLEF. Indeed, as I pointed out on Second Reading, when I was a young fellow many years ago, my first job was on the railways, when they were part of British Rail. In those days, I was a member of the National Union of Railwaymen. More recently, I served on the Transport Committee for almost six years, and I am delighted that many of the arguments and issues that I and many other stakeholders raised in numerous sessions have finally found their way into a Government Bill and on to the Floor of the House of Commons.
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Having served 14 years in opposition, I understand the Opposition’s call in their amendments for reports, performance assessments and impact assessments. I am familiar with the arguments. However, the Bill’s integrity must remain intact. Much of the information requested by the Opposition about performance will be produced routinely, so there is no need for a separate clause requesting it.
I thank my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport and her team for prioritising the Bill, bringing it to Committee so soon after the recess, and keeping up the momentum from before the summer. I believe that the Bill will fix a structural failure in UK railways by ending the presumption in favour of the private sector for passenger service delivery.
Contrary to the views expressed by the Opposition and set out eloquently by the shadow Secretary of State, the Bill will save taxpayers money, as profits will be used to improve rail services, rather than inflate considerable, unwarranted dividend payments to private train operators. As my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East (Andy McDonald) indicated, the private train operating companies are
often owned by foreign Governments, so in fact we are subsidising the rail fares of passengers in other European countries. The previous Government allowed train operating companies to pay out hundreds of millions in dividends while taking public subsidies. That is financial mismanagement. It is bad value for money and exploitative of the taxpayer and commuters.