09:30 Katy Clark (North Ayrshire and Arran) (Lab)

The second major policy context for this debate is the comprehensive spending review. Like other Departments, the Department for Transport will, we believe, be asked to make big cuts. There are understandable concerns that if we make cuts to our railways, we will damage the infrastructure needed to drive economic recovery and growth as well as to meet the ambitious targets that we set ourselves in the Climate Change Act 2008. There is also concern that the comprehensive spending review will punish UK passengers with even higher fares, although ours are already the highest in Europe.

[Source]

10:02 John McDonnell (Labour)

Any lifting of the cap on protected fares will fly in the face of everything that the Government, when they were in opposition, said about their commitment to the development of rail as one of the key transport mechanisms that will help us to protect our environment. The threatened increases of anything up to 37% to rail fares on some routes, and now the threat of increased fares on London underground, undermine the Government’s green credentials from the outset. I hope that there will be some acknowledgment in the comprehensive spending review of the role that rail plays in tackling climate change, and therefore the importance of maintaining fares at a reasonable level.

Passenger numbers have increased dramatically over the past 13 years, largely as a result of the increase in economic activity. As we go into recession, there will inevitably be a reduction of passenger usage, and there will be a temptation to make up the funding gap by increasing fares. That would be completely counter-productive: it would push more people off public transport and, as a result, have a dramatic impact on our policies to tackle climate change and our environmental policies overall.

[Source]

10:38 The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mrs Theresa Villiers)

I certainly recognise that the previous Government invested in the railways, and we would expect investment to continue under the current Government, given the huge importance of the railways to our economy and to our climate change ambitions. I covered the fares issue briefly in response to the shadow Minister, but I shall repeat my comments on it. The coalition is committed to fairness in rail fares, but the reality is that the crisis in the public finances means that we might have to take some difficult decisions on fares, as in other areas. As I have said, I am unable to give further details on the fares formula until it is announced for the coming years in the CSR on Wednesday.

The hon. Gentleman and others talked about the electrification of the railways. We included our support for electrification in our programme for government and we recognise its benefits. It will support our sustainability objectives and improve services for passengers. It will become more and more of a greener option as we decarbonise the electricity-generating network. The pace at which we can deliver electrification will obviously depend on affordability and the priority of tackling the deficit. Much will depend on the comprehensive spending review announcement tomorrow. Of course, these decisions are also linked with the work on the high-level output specification rolling stock programme, Thameslink and the future of the IEP. An announcement will be made on those in due course.

[Source]