[Hugh Bayley in the Chair] — Rail Industry

Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 10:40 am on 3 June 2009.

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Photo of Stephen Hammond Stephen Hammond Shadow Minister (Transport) 10:40, 3 June 2009

No, I have given the hon. Gentleman his chance.

It is important to recognise that there has also been a complete failure to acknowledge that the Government's franchising process has given rise to a number of the issues that the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington described and that they are not the fault of the TOCs. The Government are trying to rebalance the position between the fare payer and the taxpayer, and that is their decision, but it is also one reason why fares are going up. The Government's over-specification of the franchises is another reason why we are seeing increased job losses, because the specification of the contracts and the increasing premium payments have left franchisees with no other options.

I was intrigued by the speech by Kelvin Hopkins, who said with relief, if I heard him correctly, that Network Rail had followed Railtrack and was effectively in public ownership. I am sure that the irony was not lost on everybody when he then went on more or less to rubbish the record of Network Rail, which, as he said, was effectively in public ownership.