Speeches by Haigh.

“Again, that is why we are taking the two-track approach to the reforms and why I have Laura Shoaf, as chair of shadow Great British Railways, sitting separately and very much outside the Department to think about how we establish that culture as completely independent, both culturally and operationally from the Governm…”

“We were really pleased with the Budget negotiations to negotiate a risk-sharing agreement with the Treasury, which means that for the first time in a long time—”

“We have merged some costs and revenue decisions in the Department. It means we can take those decisions based on spending to try to generate revenue for the railways, whereas before all cost decisions sat with the Department and all revenue decisions sat with the Treasury, which is not a sensible way to run any organis…”

“Absolutely. That is why we did not want to sit back and wait for Great British Railways to be set up and why I asked Laura Shoaf, who was chief executive of the West Midlands combined authority and has a lot of experience in delivering tangible outcomes for passengers across the west midlands, to focus on delivering th…”

“We took a lot from what the previous Government did and, indeed, the review that Keith Williams conducted for a previous Secretary of State. When we launched our plans in opposition, we were really pleased to garner the support of Keith Williams for those reforms. We had learned a lot of lessons, and we agreed on a hug…”

“That is a good example of where we are basing the reforms on evidence and not being ideological. I am very happy for open access to play a full role in the future of the railways. Lumo have done a really good job, as you say, in encouraging people on to the railways and off aeroplanes. They provide a very reasonable se…”

“Absolutely. The Department routinely carries out extensive analysis of international systems. While it is difficult to always compare like for like, we have looked to other systems to learn, particularly from their regulatory environment. The work that we are doing to reform the regulation of the railways is the bigges…”

“Great wine and mustard.”

“I understand that freight often feels very much like the second-rate partner on the network, and there has to be negotiation. At the moment it is extraordinarily inefficient between operators, with passenger services and freight operators bidding for slots. As I said, Great British Railways offers the opportunity to pl…”

“Specifically on that, the arrival of Mark Wild is really important to the organisation. HS2 has been without a proper CEO for over a year, which is not good enough when you consider the scale of the organisation and the public money that it is spending. Mark Wild arriving will be really important. On entering Governmen…”

“There are three stations that will need work at Euston. There is the conventional Network Rail station that, as you say, needs a bit of redevelopment; the new HS2 station; and the underground station. Under the previous Government there were several attempts to try to bring that work together. None of their proposals w…”

“Absolutely. That is the challenge, and the previous Government went through a number of iterations. That is why we need to set up the right delivery model that takes responsibility, and can be held accountable, for capacity, for the track and for getting passengers out and into London, as well as in the station. We are…”

“I spoke to the Rail Minister after your meeting. He was suitably affected by your collective concerns and, as I am sure he communicated, has agreed to go away and consider with Network Rail how we can minimise that disruption. We are very conscious that services will be disrupted to the south-west over a very long peri…”

“I am pleased that you link that to appraisal because that is at the heart of our infrastructure strategy as we look towards the second phase of the spending review. When we entered Government there was £2.9 billion-worth of unfunded transport projects in the Department for Transport and a significant number of those we…”

“As you say, that was brought to light so clearly with HS2, which is a particularly egregious example, but it is true of all major infrastructure projects in this country. In opposition, I commissioned Jürgen Maier, who is now the chair of GB Energy, to conduct a review into exactly why that is the case. Part of the rea…”

“There are two parts to that. There is both infrastructure and, obviously for a Derby MP, the approach to rolling stock and the wider supply chain. The Department is working to establish a long-term strategy on rolling stock to flatten out orders across the industry. Again, Great British Railways offers the opportunity …”

“We have a new chief analyst who brings a significant amount of expertise and passion to this area, which is fantastic. I am working closely with him and his team to ensure that our appraisal properly reflects socioeconomic outcomes, health outcomes and the transformational benefits of transport. My reflection—I am sure…”

“During the general election campaign, when we managed to get the financial commitment over the line on potholes, the Health Secretary dubbed me “the pothole princess”, which I will take. It is a significant commitment in this Budget to 2025-26, and well beyond where our manifesto commitment left us, to fix and repair u…”

“Bernadette can speak to the lessons learned from RIS2, but my understanding, certainly from the National Audit Office report and from holding the Government to account while in opposition, was that again it was overly ambitious and over-programmed, with very ambitious new road schemes. There was consensus among the pre…”

“That modal shift ambition and targets were, as you say, included in our “Getting Britain Moving” paper addressing rail reform. It is much more about carrot than stick, and making sure that rail is an attractive proposition for people to move on to, and for freight as we discussed earlier. It is about setting a very str…”