Companies trading in profits is understandable when one looks at examples such as National Express, which expects a 70 per cent. increase on last year's profits. How can that provide value for money for the public sector and for the travelling public?

When the public sector demonstrates that it can run a service effectively and efficiently and give good value, as when Connex South Eastern went bust and South Eastern Trains took over the franchise, what happens? The Government force the operation back into the private sector. The private sector argues that its involvement enables transfer of risk, but we know that when that risk becomes too great, the public sector has to take it over again. That is what happened with the channel tunnel, Connex South Eastern and the maintenance contracts across the whole industry. Transfer of risk was a myth; it has been clearly demonstrated that it never worked from the start.

I am unable to comprehend why the Government cannot now allow some form of public sector operational involvement in the railways industry. The general public are convinced: poll after poll shows that the public want the railways to be brought back into the public sector. As for the Labour party, I remind comrades and colleagues that at its last conference the party voted overwhelmingly for a policy to bring rail back into public ownership. When South Eastern Trains was discussed at the London Labour party conference, which took place only weeks ago, it was agreed unanimously that South Eastern Trains should remain in the public sector. It is absolutely bizarre that the Government will not even allow the public sector a level playing field with the private sector. That is what amendment No. 17 would achieve.

Amendment No. 18 is straightforward: it invites the Secretary of State to bring the railway industry back into public ownership as franchises run out. Amendment No. 17 simply proposes that when a franchise comes up for renewal, there should be a public sector comparator to enable an independent assessment of whether the public or the private sector can run it best; then, the contract should be awarded according to the results of that assessment.

Amendment No. 4 states simply, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." If South Eastern Trains is running operations effectively in the public sector, why not leave it there? Ironically, it may well remain in the public sector—the Norwegian public sector, unfortunately, since Norway's state railway is bidding for the operation. The Government have a bizarre ideological commitment—a dogmatic commitment—to the private sector. It reminds us of the Victorian commitment to the hidden hand of the market, or, perhaps more appropriately, the American neo-conservatives' mantra for every occasion: "Private sector good, public sector bad." It appears that the only role that the Government envisage for the public sector is that of clearing up the mess made time and again by the private sector.

On Second Reading and elsewhere, the Secretary of State argued that the railways cannot be brought back into the public sector because it would be too expensive. We were told at one point that it would cost £3 billion, yet within six months we were told that the cost would be £22 billion. My amendments would enable the railway industry to be brought back within the public sector without cost, as franchises run out. It is argued that amendment No. 18 inserts a public sector preference, but amendment No. 17 answers that by invoking an independent and objective assessment process. In fact, it is almost a modernising amendment—practically third way-ish.

Amendment No. 4 is also straightforward. All the statistics for every quarter of last year show that South Eastern Trains in the public sector has outperformed all the private sector elements of the industry. They demonstrate how much more efficiently and effectively the operation has been run since it was taken over from Connex.