Thank you, Madam Chair, for allowing me to catch your eye during this very important debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Rochdale (Paul Waugh) on a really excellent maiden speech, and I hope that I can match the very high bar that has been set by hon. Members in all parts of the House so far today.
I start by paying tribute to my predecessor, Sir Greg Knight. I am very fortunate to be following him; he was a very well-liked and respected Member of this House. His parliamentary career spanned five decades, and he served as a Minister in the Governments of Thatcher, Major and Cameron. He was first the Member for Derby North, from 1983 to 1997, and excelled in the roles of deputy Chief Whip and Minister for Industry. He then returned to this place in 2001 for the then
constituency of East Yorkshire, which has now become Bridlington and The Wolds, and was re-elected on five separate occasions until his retirement this year.
Sir Greg served for a second stint in the Whips Office during the coalition years and worked tirelessly behind the scenes on many of Parliament’s less fashionable Committees. I will always aspire to match his dedication and integrity in public life, but there is one area in which I will never be able to compete with him—that is, of course, the election campaign jingle. For any hon. Members who are unaware of his unique impact in this area, I wholeheartedly recommend a quick internet search after today’s debate. More seriously, Sir Greg was rightly rewarded with a knighthood for his service to this place, and I place on record my thanks for his support and friendship in recent months. I wish both him and Lady Janet a very happy and well-deserved retirement.
I now have the unbelievable privilege of representing my home constituency of Bridlington and The Wolds, and it is truly the greatest honour of my life. I am sure you will agree, Madam Chair, that there is no finer county than Yorkshire, and nowhere showcases it better than the East Riding—from the stunning cliffs and world-famous seabird colony at Bempton and Flamborough Head to the golden, sandy beaches stretching from Bridlington to Hornsea and the rolling hills and picture-book villages of the Wolds.
Each of the four towns in the constituency has its own unique appeal. Bridlington is the largest shellfish landing port in the UK and the lobster capital of Europe. It attracts millions of visitors every year and is home to many thousands of people who have retired to the area, and I will always fiercely defend our local pensioners. Driffield, my home town, is the capital of the Wolds—or capital of the world, as I thought it said on the road sign as a child—and home to one of the largest one-day agricultural shows in the country. Hornsea boasts not only a beautiful coastline but the largest freshwater lake in Yorkshire, and Market Weighton was once home to William Bradley, who is believed to be the tallest person ever to have lived in this country at 7 foot 9 inches tall, and to whom the town pays tribute every year on Giant Bradley Day. I do not wish to test your patience, Madam Chair, by singing the praises of all the many villages and hamlets across my constituency, but it would be remiss of me not to mention Nafferton, where I grew up, and Wansford, where I now live. Both are home to excellent local pubs; if you do find yourself in the area, I would be delighted to buy you a drink.
I hope to repay the faith placed in me by the electorate with hard work and diligence. I want to improve access to local health services, increase transport links, ensure access to high-speed broadband for all and address the historical funding formula in education that disadvantages children in rural local authority areas. I am one of the few Members who can claim to represent more pigs than people. Agriculture, fishing and tourism are the foundations of our local economy. If I can make our beautiful corner of Yorkshire a better place to live and work before I depart this place, I will, I hope, have done some good.
4.30 pm
I return to the topic of today’s debate. Privatisation of the railways was necessary because British Rail was not working, either for rail users or the British taxpayer.
However, the process of privatising rail operators has not been perfect, in part because franchises operate monopolies; in that respect, they are no different from the nationalised services that they replaced. However, where genuine competition exists, rail privatisation has been a success. On the east coast main line, the Government-subsidised franchise, London North Eastern Railway, competes with open access operators Hull Trains, Grand Central and Lumo. That has led to cheaper prices for users, high satisfaction and greater punctuality, and inter-city services have been extended to new towns and cities across Yorkshire and the north-east. One of those operators, Hull Trains, now runs two direct services a day between Beverley and London, and I would love to see them extended to Bridlington and Driffield, just up the line in my constituency.
However, the legislation puts those efficient, non-subsidised open access operators under threat. Instead of learning the lessons of those success stories and expanding them across the network, the Government are sliding back to a nostalgic vision of the 1970s, even though public services were in fact inefficient and expensive for rail users and the public purse. The legislation’s failure to provide specific guarantees to open access operators will mean that there is no incentive for them to invest in new rolling stock or expand their services. We need more open access, not less.
Ministers claim that there is a continued role for open access operators where they add value and capacity to the network, but they will soon be at the mercy of an entirely nationalised infrastructure and provider. Do Ministers not realise that a reborn British Rail will work for passengers only if its inter-city services face stiff open access competition across the network? The east coast main line is a mature and successful test case, and it should be expanded. Otherwise, what incentive will there be for a new British Rail to deliver cheaper and better services? None, I suspect. The legislation is as rushed as it is ideological. The only losers will be rail users and the taxpayer.