Rail Reform

Part of Business of the House – in the House of Commons at 12:41 pm on 8 March 2012.

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Photo of Hugh Bayley Hugh Bayley NATO Parliamentary Assembly UK Delegation 12:41, 8 March 2012

I think I am the only Member in the Chamber today who served on the Public Bill Committee that considered the Railways Bill that privatised the railways almost 20 years ago. We were told at the time by Conservative Ministers that privatisation would drive down costs and increase efficiency, but we know now that that was not at all the case. Privatisation cost thousands of railway jobs. I still have hundreds of railway jobs in my constituency, but what assessment has the Secretary of State made of the number of jobs on the railways that will be lost as a result of her statement, nationally and in my constituency?