Tag: Jim McMahon

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, in the House of Commons on 18 November 2021.

I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. We will be going out shortly to collect the plan and scrutinise it. I am frankly staggered by how this statement started, with the Secretary of State saying he was “proud” to present it to the House—proud of what? Is he proud of the betrayal of trust, the betrayal of promises and the betrayal of the investment that the north of England and the midlands deserve?

We have all seen the reports over the weekend, each one setting out the betrayal being put forward today. There is no amount of gloss or spin that can be put on it. The Secretary of State promised HS2 to Leeds. He promised Northern Powerhouse Rail. He promised that the north would not be forgotten, but he has not just forgotten us; he has completely sold us out.

As someone who lives in Greater Manchester, I am not going to take lectures on what Northern Powerhouse Rail means. We know exactly what it means. We were committing to a new line connecting Manchester and Leeds, and within a month of becoming Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said:

“I am going to deliver on my commitment with a pledge to fund the Leeds to Manchester route.”

We were promised a new line. He has broken that promise, and he has not even got the decency to admit it.

Let us be clear: the scaling back of Northern Powerhouse Rail, coupled with the scrapping of the eastern leg of HS2, is a massive blow for our regions. The schemes would have created 150,000 new jobs, connecting 13 million people in our major towns and cities in our industrial heartlands. The then-Chancellor George Osborne first announced plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail in 2014. Since then, the Conservatives, including the Prime Minister and the Transport Secretary, have recommitted and re-promised 60 times.

This is a once-in-a-generation chance to transform opportunity across the whole country, to rebalance the economy and make it work for working people, but that opportunity now looks set to be lost. They are the very same working people who will likely face a record increase when rail fares go up next year. They will be paying 50% more to get to work than they did a decade ago, relying on a crumbling, unreliable and overcrowded system that prioritises profit above passengers. It is the same with buses, with fares up 70%, use down and not a single one of the 4,000 zero-emission buses promised by the Prime Minister three years ago having been delivered.

What is on offer? Some £96 billion that we should be grateful for, but let us unpack that £96 billion, £40 billion of which has already been committed from London to Crewe, but is being labelled as investment across the north of England. Of the £56 billion that remains, if we compare that with what the north of England would have got over the past decade had it had the same investment as London and the south-east, we are still £10 billion short. We are not going to accept crumbs off the table.

Labour would reform our transport networks so that they work for working people, with investment spread more evenly across the country so that parents are not forced to see their children leave the places where they were raised to find opportunity that is denied on their doorstep. Most importantly, Labour would put working people first, using the power of Government and the skill of business to ensure good-quality jobs are created here and in every single region of Britain.

The Prime Minister was elected on a promise to level the playing field and make things better for households across the country. We were promised a northern powerhouse. We were promised a midlands engine. We were promised that we would be levelled up, but what we have been given today is the great train robbery—robbing the north of its chance to realise its full potential, robbing the next generation of the hope and opportunity they are due and robbing 15 million people across the north of the investment they have been denied for 11 years under this rotten Government.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on 3 October 2021.

You cannot trust a word the Tories say. Expecting people to accept endless rebadging of promises made years ago is insulting.

Poor transport connectivity continues to hold back the North, Midlands and beyond and the Conservatives’ record is one of total failure to deliver. Communities that stand to lose out once again – thanks to the Government’s incompetence and inability to keep projects on track – will rightly feel betrayed by yet another broken promise dressed up as a new announcement.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 27 September 2021.

It should be a source of shame for ministers that they have allowed thousands of jobs to be lost in the aviation sector across the country when they promised support – particularly when so many are now staring down the barrel of Boris Johnson’s tax hikes and cuts to Universal Credit.

Empty words, long delays and broken promises are the default setting for this Government – with working people paying the price over and over again.

Labour has consistently called for a sectoral deal that supports the whole aviation industry including securing jobs and protecting the supply chain, while continuing to press for higher environmental standards.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on 23 September 2021.

This is a rapidly worsening crisis that the Government has failed to heed the warnings of for a decade, never investing in or valuing working class jobs.

Sticking plaster solutions are not going to solve it. Ministers must take decisive steps now to tackle the 90,000 driver shortfall.

If they fail to take action, the responsibility for every empty shelf, every vital medicine not delivered and every supplier not able to meet demand lies at the Conservatives’ door.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 18 August 2021.

Rail travel has long been unaffordable for many people, thanks to the Conservatives prioritising the profits of private companies over passengers. This would be yet another eye-watering hike hot on the heels of the failure of the Government’s so-called money saving flexi ticket scheme.

The letter written by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Transport Secretary, to Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, on 9 July 2021.

Dear Grant,

I am writing to you after your media appearances this morning, when you spoke of the challenges passengers would face going aboard this summer.

On BBC Breakfast, you said:

“The real backlog will be from the place you’re coming from” and that “People should expect more disruption than usual”

While it’s right to manage expectations, Government ministers are not merely commentators on the situation – they are empowered to seek to address problems they foresee.

The unlock date is still 10 days away. Ministers should be actively working with the industry and major UK tourist destination airports to create a process that is both safe, appropriate but also workable.

So can I ask you whether you have met or spoken with every airline that flies into the UK from a Green or Amber list country, to talk them through the new processes and ensure that their staff will know how operate this new system as speedily as possible?

Is the Government confident that all airlines flying from these destinations can read the UK’s NHS app and understand when to allow a traveller on board or when not to? Would these challenges not highlight the need for an international vaccine passport, or at least international agreement on how a Covid passport might work?

As I asked you yesterday, whilst we have our own Covid passport via the NHS app there have been issues with other countries accepting this as sufficient proof entering into those countries. Do you know how many countries now accept the Covid passport of the NHS app as proof of someone’s Covid or vaccine status?

Finally, you noted in your BBC interview that more UK Border Force staff will be stationed at UK airports to deal with the expecting increase in traveller numbers. How many more officers will there be and what is your target time for how long will a traveller should expect to have to wait to go through a major UK airport such as Heathrow?

Yours sincerely,

Jim

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 29 June 2021.

We can’t have one rule for senior executives and another for everyone else, so the data behind this decision must be published urgently, especially as the Conservatives have failed to protect our borders against the Delta variant.

We have always said there is a need for some limited exemptions for workers and have repeatedly called on the Government to publish the criteria behind these.

The best way to support the UK’s economy is to get a grip on the new variant, roll out the vaccine and support businesses in struggling sectors hardest hit by the roadmap delay including the aviation sector.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on 29 June 2021.

Ministers had a real chance to make train travel a more realistic and affordable option for families who have already been hit hard in the pocket and are struggling to make ends meet after struggling through the pandemic.

It is staggering that they are now lauding a scheme which in fact makes it more expensive for many people and hoping nobody notices.

This failure will discourage people from getting back on to the network when restrictions ease, which will be vital for getting the sector on a stable footing.