Transport: London Underground

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:14 pm on 7 May 2008.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lord Bassam of Brighton Lord Bassam of Brighton Government Whip, Government Whip 3:14, 7 May 2008

My Lords, I hear what the noble Lord has to say on the subject of PFIs, PPPs and so on, but Tube Lines, which is the other major provider of services on the network, has worked extremely well by and large. I think most people would argue that it has delivered satisfactorily and that it demonstrates that PPPs work. I understand that the new mayor is a fan of PPPs, so that will obviously inform his approach. It is perhaps worth recording that last July Tim O'Toole said about Metronet:

"This is more about Metronet's structure"—

—the failure, that is—

"than it is about the PPP".

We have to take a longer-term and more balanced view. PPP has delivered some significant improvements to our Underground network.