Speeches by Mayhew.

“The Government amendment makes further provision concerning the memorandum of understanding between the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers. I have no objection to it. The Minister is absolutely right that clause 24 is similar in intention to clause 23, but there are huge questions about the role that Welsh Minister…”

“I understand the point the Minister is making about the lack of relationship between those two documents. In the debate on the previous group, he was able to give an indication of the likely timeframe for publishing the Scottish memorandum of understanding. Can he give a similar hint on the Welsh memorandum of understa…”

“Having heard the semi-reassurance of the Minister, I will not move amendment 40. Clause 24, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill. Ordered, That further consideration be now adjourned. —(Nesil Caliskan.)”

“The Minister is touching on a key issue that the railway will have to address if he is serious about achieving a reliable Sunday service, and that is operating a seven-day schedule with a six-day roster. Does the Minister intend finally to address the six-day roster issue and to move working practices on to a seven-day…”

“My hon. Friend is absolutely right. New clause 33(3)(a) to (d) is aimed at reducing short-term decisions and focusing more on long-term efficiency and savings. I am sure there are many former business people on the Labour Benches—or maybe not, actually—[Interruption.] I am glad to hear that there are. There are many fo…”

“I beg to move amendment 33, in clause 18, page 10, line 23, at end insert— “(g) in the manner best calculated to increase the number travelling by railway, (h) in the manner best calculated to contribute to economic growth, (i) in the manner best calculated to increase private sector investment and involvement in the r…”

“I beg to move amendment 119, in schedule 2, page 60, line 2, at end insert— “(1A) The date specified in section 1(d) must be at least 24 months before the start of the funding period.” This amendment would ensure the Secretary of State has to notify the ORR and GBR of the amount of financial assistance for the next fun…”

“Clause 15 requires the Secretary of State to publish a document that sets out the long-term strategy for the railway, which we welcome, after consulting with Welsh Ministers and the passenger watchdog. The Secretary of State must keep the strategy under review and publish any revisions. The clause does not provide any …”

“So here we are: this is the eminently sensible approach to providing funding for the ORR to continue its operations as a safety regulator. Clause 14 allows the Office of Rail and Road to require GBR to pay a levy to the ORR for performing its non-safety railway functions. That provides the ORR with a legally guaranteed…”

“From the Government’s perspective, yes, it would be, but we have recent experience—this is a slight tangent, but I hope the Committee will bear with me—of Governments passing key objectives to achieve long out in the distance. I am thinking of the Climate Change Act 2008 and its objective of achieving net zero by 2050.…”

“The Government’s defence is pretty extraordinary. What they are saying is that GBR should be free to charge unreasonable amounts—otherwise there would be no objection to the wording of the amendment, which simply seeks to put the word “reasonable” into the requirement. The Government say that even though this monopoly …”

“The Minister refers to clause 18(2)(e), which states: “They must exercise the functions… in the manner best calculated to be in the public interest”. Can the Minister not see that GBR’s assessment of what is in the public interest could very well be what it considers to be in its own interest, because it is a public bo…”

“This afternoon is turning into a marathon session, and the only people who cannot take a comfort break are the shadow Minister and the Minister, so far as I can work out; I have my legs crossed. Clause 13 allows GBR to charge people to whom it is providing a service relating to its functions—this is the important bit—“…”

“Yes, repeatedly, which is great, because my hon. Friend is absolutely fighting for his constituency and his constituents. He has told me of a repeated trouble that communities experience when a level crossing closes very frequently and for long periods with no regard to the economic impact of that on the town in which …”

“We now turn to paragraph 4 of schedule 2, which deals with the business plan and approval by the Secretary of State. To receive public funding under paragraph 4, GBR is required to include in its business plan an explanation of how it will meet the objectives set by the Secretary of State. Amendment 124 seeks to streng…”

“I agreed with the hon. Gentleman until that last sentence, because new clause 40, which I will come to in a moment, would require not the removal of subsidy but looking towards it—it is aspirational. It would set GBR’s sights on minimising its costs to the taxpayer, not through penny pinching if that would be the wrong…”

“The Minister is a mind reader; I was just about to ask him to give way. He says he cannot agree to amendment 124 because we need flexibility in the future, but he will see that it refers to “measurable performance indicators for each statutory duty listed in Section 18”, so that flexibility would only run so far as any…”

“I beg to move amendment 22, in clause 13, page 7, line 22, leave out “as it thinks fit” and insert “as are reasonable”. This amendment would ensure Great British Railways only charges what is reasonable for provision of services in circumstances where it is a monopoly supplier.”

“I beg to move amendment 124, in schedule 2, page 62, line 9, at end insert— “(d) measurable performance indicators for each statutory duty listed in Section 18.” This amendment would require the business plan to include measurable performance indicators for GBR’s duties.”

“We have heard with interest what the Minister has to say, but I am wholly unpersuaded that he is adequately reflecting the needs of the industry, so I will seek to press amendment 120 to a Division. Question put, That the amendment be made.”