Tag: Jim McMahon

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 21 June 2021.

Warm words and vague promises, the likes of which we have seen from the Prime Minister during recent by-election campaigns, are simply not good enough. Labour will not stand by while cities like Bradford – among those set to benefit most from vital infrastructure upgrades – risk being stifled by this government’s failure to keep its side of the bargain.

Our party is clear – Northern Powerhouse Rail should be built. Estimates predict it will connect millions more people and thousands of businesses and help tackle our imbalanced economy.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 20 May 2021.

Whilst we welcome steps to increase public control and ownership over the railways, there remains many unanswered questions in today’s report.

Despite two press releases in six hours, a morning media round and a statement to the house, the Transport Secretary still seems unable to explain how his flexible ticketing offer will actually deliver saving for passengers.

Labour has long argued that public ownership of the rail network will provide better value for the taxpayer and for passengers, who deserve more than rhetoric from this Government.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on 20 April 2021.

The Conservatives had a very straightforward choice to make and an opportunity to protect lives on smart motorways.

Yet ministers appear to have decided to ignore the pleas of those who have already lost loved ones, and of the coroners who investigated their deaths.

Labour will continue to press the Transport Secretary to reinstate the hard shoulder immediately while full safety reviews are undertaken and before more lives are lost.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 9 April 2021.

Time and again the UK Government have been devoid of strategy when it comes to protecting our borders against Covid.

At a time when cases are rising across Europe and the threat of variants remains deeply worrying, we need a comprehensive hotel quarantine system, to help protect the gains of the vaccine. The first priority has to be keeping people safe.

Labour will look at these proposals, but proper details and clarity about strategy are vital. This must include the criteria by which the ‘traffic lights’ will be decided, as well as clear information for travellers and industry, about what test will be required and resulting costs.

It will take a long time for international travel to recover from the impact of the virus. The Government must come up with a comprehensive financial support package for the aviation sector and its supply chain which supports almost a quarter of a million jobs and protects the environment and stimulates further decarbonisation of the industry.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Transport Secretary, on 26 February 2021.

Dozens of people have lost their lives on smart motorways, so this investigation is welcome. Ministers must act now and do what Labour has called for – reinstate the hard shoulder while a full review is carried out and the results brought back to the Commons.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 21 February 2021.

It’s a tragedy that so many have lost their lives on smart motorways. There can be no more dither and delay – ministers must take action now to reinstate the hard shoulder to prevent more deaths and urgently report on the results of the evidence review.

The comments made by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 15 February 2021.

The reality is there is an £11bn pothole backlog across the country which will take more than a decade to fix.

Rehashed announcements from last year won’t repair our roads. The Government needs to recognise the scale of the problem and fund local services properly, not force councils into economically illiterate tax hikes.

The press release issued by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 12 February 2021.

Labour urges Government to take action on smart motorways to prevent more deaths

Labour has once again demanded the Government take action on smart motorways to prevent more fatalities, after it emerged Highways England could face charges over the death of a woman.

During Transport Questions in the Commons last month Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, was called on by Labour’s Jim McMahon to “commit, the minute this session finishes, to pick up the phone and to issue the instruction to re-instate the hard shoulder on smart motorways because god forbid we’ll be here again reviewing more deaths if action isn’t taken”.

It followed a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of Jason Mercer, 44, and Alexandru Murgeanu, 22, on a smart motorway in 2019.

McMahon, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, has written to the Government to ask again for the hard shoulder on smart motorways to be reinstated while promised safety reviews are ongoing.

The letter send by Jim McMahon, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, to Grant Shapps, the Secretary of State for Transport, on 2 February 2021.

Dear Grant,

I am sure you will join me in paying tribute to transport, distribution and logistics staff across the country. Without them our country would grind to a halt and we could not hope to beat Covid-19. As with all our frontline workers, they are the very best of us.

Across the country people are shocked and saddened by increasing reports of transport and other key workers losing their lives to Covid-19. Our thoughts are with the families of these brave professionals. Our drivers are keeping the country going in extremely difficult circumstances, and they will be central to our economic recovery.

You’ll know that this week the ONS published figures showing the death rate from Covid-19 by occupation. It revealed that taxi drivers (101 deaths per 100,000 males) and bus and coach drives (83 deaths per 100,000 males) had some of the highest death rates of any occupation.

There is a mix of overlapping, and at times contradictory, scientific advice and guidance in circulation for essential workers. The job of Government should surely be to cut through that noise and give those that need it clear, unified and constant guidance and direction. The fact that different operators have diverging views on the best approach is confusing matters further.

It’s clear that ahead of our frontline workers receiving the Covid-19 vaccine, we need a national operator’s forum with Government, transport operators and unions with driver and other workers’ representatives. This would help in understanding the frontline issues, varying approaches, and practical solutions to getting the Covid case rate and death rate down.

There is a need for clearer guidance for all transport operators including those in the taxi industry that consider themselves a platform rather than employer. This should include, but not be limited to:

Whether all public facing transport workers whether in the public or private sector should be issued with gloves, masks, and other PPE items as standard, what specification this PPE should be and, if there isn’t sufficient PPE, whether buses should still run;

Whether physical barriers (ie. screens) should be in place for all taxis or other modes of transport to separate the driver from the passengers and if the government will provide specification on the most effective installation;

How frequently vehicles should be cleaned and to what standard this cleaning should be, including routine deep cleaning;

The need for drivers to have additional breaks, where social distancing can be applied, built into shifts;

How social distancing can be effectively managed on within all modes of public transport, and how queuing and boarding can be managed to provide a safe environment for passengers and workers. This is especially important given the Prime Minister has said he is considering easing some restrictions as early as next month.

Finally, to reiterate, my party is clear, as we have been since the beginning of this crisis, that we will work with the Government in any way possible to support efforts to tackle the virus. To that end, we are raising these issues in the spirit of constructive engagement.

Yours Sincerely,

Jim.