Clause 19
Local Transport Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Graham Stringer (Manchester, Blackley, Labour)
Good morning, Lady Winterton. We now come to the kernel of the Bill, which seeks to make it easier to set up quality contracts than was the case under the Transport Act 2000. Although the Government’s intentions to make it easier to bring in quality contracts are welcome, I hope that the amendments will make the process even more effective. Before getting to the meat of the argument, it might be useful to explain that when I tabled the amendments to reduce a seven-stage process to a three-stage process I also tabled consequential amendments Nos. 104, 194, 106, 107, 112, 113, 114, 120, 121 and 125.
It is clear that the Clerks have seen a significant case—that if some of the other amendments were taken on their own they would vary the Bill in an interesting fashion. However, if they were taken separately, the changes that they would make remain opaque to me so I shall concentrate on the main argument for making the process of bringing in quality contracts even easier than set out in the Bill.
There is a clear difference in the thoughts of those on the Conservative Front Bench and the Liberal Democrats and the Labour party. When we considered related matters last week, Labour Members said that many Conservative councillors agreed with my right hon. Friend the Minister rather than with the Opposition, so I checked the position of Conservative councillors on my passenger transport authority. Before I excite the Opposition, I do not want to make the case that all Conservative councillors agree with the Labour party on the matter but, to put it simply, many of them, particularly those whose work is related to transport, agree with the Government and the series of amendments that I have tabled.
I do not know who should be more worried about this—Opposition Members or me—but in open debate, much to his surprise and mine, the Bolton Conservative member of the Greater Manchester passenger transport authority, having watched the Second Reading debate, said that he agreed more with me than with the hon. Members for Chipping Barnet (Mrs. Villiers) and for Wimbledon. The leader of the Conservatives on Greater Manchester passenger transport authority—I think that she has it right—said that she was taken by the case that there needs to be more regulation and more public accountability for the money that is going into buses.
The hon. Member for Wimbledon is making an ideological case that is removed from that of Conservative councillors who are actually looking at what is happening on the ground.