Today, I will be joining the great northern conference. I will not only reinforce the Government’s belief in the northern powerhouse, but announce further funding to allow trams to continue to operate, helping people to get to work and NHS staff to get to hospitals. That will go to local authorities and operators in Sheffield, Tyne and Wear, Manchester and Blackpool, which will be among those that will share £35.4 million, which I am announcing today, over the next 12 weeks to keep those essential services running.
The Government’s 2019 road safety statement once again recognised the evidence that
“restrictions on new novice drivers’ post-test driving, have proved very effective at improving the safety of young drivers.”
The Government promised to commission research to explore the social and economic consequences of introducing a graduated driving licence. Baroness Vere told the Transport Committee that the Government have abandoned work. What does that say about the commitment of the Government to tackling the tragic and avoidable road crashes that claimed the lives of 99 young drivers in 2018?
The hon. Lady, who is the former Chair of the Transport Committee, is absolutely right about the number of incidents that take place among young drivers. Let me just declare an interest: I have children who have both started to learn to drive and are about to start to drive. There is a decision for society to make as to whether it wishes to restrict the ability of young people to use their cars after, for example, 10 o’clock at night to drive back from a library, or to able work, because graduated driving licences would restrict those rights—I see the hon. Member for Oldham West and Royton (Jim McMahon) asking about this. The hon. Lady is right to say that we have looked very carefully at this issue and come to the conclusion that there are other ways, through things such as black boxes in cars, that will provide safety without restricting freedom.
We hope, Mr Speaker. The M6 is a vital artery for the people of South Ribble and, throughout the pandemic, I know that my right hon. Friend has been working with the arm’s length bodies, such as Highways England, to keep it open, to keep food on our table and to keep business goods going around. Will he give us a bit of an update on the work that he has done during the pandemic to keep these vital arteries flowing?
It is incredibly important that those arteries continue to flow, and we have made sure that they do by working with Highways England and other bodies to put work in while the networks are being slightly less used.
Transport operators have been devastated by covid, and it will take some time for them to recover their strength. The Government have stepped in to underwrite all the revenue risk of rail franchise operators, despite shareholder dividends being in the region of £1.7 billion since 2011. There was a sense that we needed to keep rail going, and that that was the right intervention, but the Government have gone further, paying out operators’ profits on top of that, with even more to come. Yet here in the nation’s capital, our essential transport workers, who are working hard to keep the city going, are routinely deployed to attack the Mayor of London. Why are the Government content to underwrite all revenue risk and bail out foreign Government shareholders, but not back the people of this country?
I am slightly confused by that question, because there has not been a single bigger bail-out of any organisation—that I can think of—than the £1.6 billion that has already gone to Transport for London, with another £1 billion coming along.
Whether it is Sadiq Khan in London or Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester, the Government are systematically directing political fire at those who dare to speak out. Let us be very clear: it was the Prime Minister, when he left City Hall, who handed back the subsidy and left a £1.1 billion deficit, and it was Sadiq Khan who reduced it by 71%. Will the Government right this wrong and match the intervention for rail franchises across all operations, including TfL, or have they gone from the poll tax to the polling day tax, where they deliberately seek out anybody who dares to vote for a Labour Mayor?
That is one of those pre-written questions that do not adjust to the answer. I just explained that more money has gone to the single organisation that the Mayor of London runs than any other organisation that I can think of—certainly in transport.
Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con) [V]
France has more than 80 domestic aviation routes backed by public service obligations that connect the regions of that country. By contrast, the UK has only four, and they just connect to London. What consideration has the Minister given to backing more domestic routes with PSOs to help connect the regions of our country?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to point out that other countries certainly have more PSOs. Actually, the European Commission’s website suggests that France’s has 37 PSOs—but none the less, significantly more than this country. We are looking at all this through the regional airport review, and I know that the PSO route from Newquay has been extremely important.
In normal times, millions of people from outside London use our transport system here in London, so in order to help keep TfL afloat, does the Secretary of State think it is fair to slap a transport tax on pensioners in Whitton and Hampton in my constituency in order to subsidise commuters from Welwyn and Hatfield in his constituency?
First of all, the negotiations are still ongoing, so we need to await their outcome. Secondly, there is nowhere else in the country that gets more concessions than London; constituents in my part of the world and the constituencies of other Members in this House will not be enjoying the same concessions that are available to London. But, as I say, we will need to await the outcome of these discussions.
The Government are committed to creating a high-quality route along the A303—this is the second time it has been mentioned this morning—and the A358 from the A3 to the M5. This will be the south-west strategic route. I very much thank my hon. Friend for his commitment to this route, but consequently the Government have no plans to dual the alternative A303/A30 route between Ilminster and Honiton.