The comments made by Louise Haigh, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on Twitter on 4 November 2022.
60 times the Tories promised to level up the North with the rail infrastructure we need to grow our economy. While they break their promises, Labour will build the Elizabeth Line for the North we deserve.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance his Department has issued to electoral returning officers on the release of electoral registration statistics in response to Freedom of Information requests.
John Penrose
The Government has not issued guidance to electoral returning officers on the release of electoral registration statistics in response to Freedom of Information requests.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2015 to Question 8466, if he will list the names, job titles and pay grades of all appointments to extended ministerial offices that have been made to date.
Matthew Hancock
The government regularly publishes information on the job titles and pay grades of senior civil servants along with the numbers of staff they manage and the budgets they are responsible for.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2015 to Question 8466, how many appointments to extended ministerial offices (a) have been made to date, (b) required approval by the Civil Service Commission, (c) are currently under consideration by the Civil Service Commission and (d) have been rejected by the Civil Service Commission.
Matthew Hancock
The government regularly publishes information on the job titles and pay grades of senior civil servants along with the numbers of staff they manage and the budgets they are responsible for.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2015 to Question 8192, how many public complaints were made about failures to comply with the Overseas Companies Regulations 2009 in each year since they came in to force.
Anna Soubry
Companies House received the following number of complaints about the possible failure to register the opening of a UK establishment of an overseas company, which is a breach of the Overseas Regulations 2009, for each year since 2010. Companies House will act upon the receipt of a public complaint about a possible failure to comply with the Overseas Companies Regulations 2009 ("the Regulations"). It will carry out an initial investigation and then, if it considers that an offence may have been committed, it will refer the case to BIS solicitors to consider whether a prosecution is justified under the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The principal aim is to achieve compliance with the Regulations; therefore, prosecution action is considered a last resort.
|
Year |
Number of Complaints |
|
2010 (from 1 October |
2 |
|
2011 |
4 |
|
2012 |
14 |
|
2013 |
36 |
|
2014 |
26 |
|
2015 (to date) |
8 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the terms of reference are for his Department’s feasibility study into future connections between UK and Chinese stock markets.
Harriett Baldwin
The London Stock Exchange Group and the Shanghai Stock Exchange will carry out a feasibility study on a stock market connection, and will determine the terms of reference in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the reduction in the rate of corporation tax on public sector net borrowing and debt.
Mr David Gauke
The direct fiscal impact of the policy was set out in Table 2.1 of the Budget document, accessible via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/443232/50325_Summer_Budget_15_Web_Accessible.pdf
This figure does not take into account the dynamic economic impacts of the policy. In 2013, the Government published a report modelling the economic impact of the corporation tax cuts announced in the previous parliament. This showed that, through increases to investment and demand for labour, which in turn raise wages and consumption, the cost of corporation tax cuts falls by between 45 per cent and 60 per cent in the long term.
The speech made by Louise Haigh, the Shadow Transport Secretary, in the House of Commons on 24 October 2022.
I like the Minister very much and I wish her well in her ministerial duties, but she is not the aviation Minister; the Secretary of State should be here to answer this urgent question. A critical regional airport is days away from closure and she cannot be bothered to turn up. What message does it send to the people of South Yorkshire, 125,000 of whom signed a petition to keep the airport open, that she will not attend the Chamber and cannot even attend meetings with South Yorkshire MPs and leaders to discuss how we can protect Doncaster Sheffield airport? The Government have repeatedly refused to meet the Mayor of South Yorkshire and other regional leaders to discuss what options are open. It is truly a slap in the face to the hundreds of people whose jobs currently hang in the balance.
When the right hon. Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss)—the Prime Minister for the next few hours at least—came to Yorkshire, she gave a commitment on behalf of the Government to protect Doncaster Sheffield airport. That commitment must outlast her Government, not least because this airport is of strategic significance: it has one of the longest runways in Britain, it is the base for the National Police Air Service, and it is a home to national coastguard operations.
Thanks to the leadership of the Mayor of South Yorkshire, credible investors have been identified, but it is obvious that the Peel Group never had any intention of negotiating in good faith, so it is not an option for Doncaster Council or the Mayor to purchase shares in the airport, given that the Peel Group is refusing to sell. It is willing to let the airport close, to let infrastructure be degraded and to remove any chance of its being reopened in future.
The case for action from the Government is crystal clear. The use of emergency powers under the Civil Contingencies Act is the only possible measure to keep the airport running. Potential investors have made it clear that the Secretary of State’s refusal to use those powers is creating far greater uncertainty and instability, and is making purchase at any point in future even more unlikely. Can the Minister outline precisely why the Secretary of State has refused to consider the use of the Act? That decision is political, so it is beholden on her to explain to the people of South Yorkshire why she refuses to use it. If she continues to refuse, will the Minister lay out what powers exist anywhere else that could keep the airport running?
As we await the third Prime Minister in seven weeks, there is less than a week left to save the airport. If the Government do not take the action that the people of South Yorkshire desperately need them to take, the people will conclude that this is final proof that the Tories’ levelling-up agenda is dead.
Katherine Fletcher
The message to the people of South Yorkshire is that they have an incredibly strong local champion in my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Nick Fletcher), who has been working tirelessly to make it happen from day one. The previous aviation Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Robert Courts), who is present, has already met the combined authority. The hon. Lady asks where the power lies; it lies with the Labour mayoral combined authority—the local council. [Interruption.] Well, let me address the Civil Contingencies Act: it was introduced by the Blair Government. When the Minister brought it to the House, it was envisioned that it would be used in only the most serious circumstances and
“would be used rarely, if ever”.—[Official Report, 19 January 2004; Vol. 416, c. 1109.]
No Government have used it in 18 years. The Opposition—[Interruption.] The Labour party bringing in a law that was not serious; that would astonish me! What you are doing is trying to find a piece of politicking, instead of sitting down—[Interruption.] Sorry, it is my first go, Madam Deputy Speaker. You are—[Hon. Members: “You’re doing it again!”] The hon. Lady will forgive me, as it is my first go. [Interruption.] What we need is for the Peel Group to sit down with the commercial people, and that is what it promised to do when it sat down with the aviation Minister on 19 October.
The speech made by Louise Haigh, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on 26 September 2022.
Thank you, Conference .
It’s great to be together again and I have to say, it’s little short of a miracle so many of you managed to get here over the weekend given the current state of our public transport.
Record delays, overcrowding, routes and services slashed week on week.
We have a system where the public have come last for too long.
And we know there is too much at stake for the country and the climate to carry on with this shambles.
Where broken promises on public transport hold our country back.
Where services connecting our major cities are slashed without warning by unaccountable private operators.
And where the public pay ever more for less.
Because if many millions - let down by services they can no longer rely on – cannot or will not use public transport then – quite simply – there is no path to net zero.
And we will never build the fairer, greener future our country demands.
That’s why my number one priority as your Secretary of State will be ending this spiral of decline on our public transport system.
When the Victorians laid the foundations for our modern railway, it was a vote of confidence in Britain’s future.
Today there are new challenges that demand the same ambition.
No less than sixty times the Conservatives promised to connect our great Northern towns and cities and deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail.
A once-in-a-century chance to invest in public transport - to transform opportunity across the whole country, rebalance our economy, and take millions of cars off the roads.
And they flunked it.
But while the Tories fail our country, Labour will seize this opportunity, and lay the foundations for the century to come.
We will build an Elizabeth Line for the North and deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 in full.
But we know – we can only build a fairer, greener future by taking power from failing private operators and putting it back in the hands of the public.
Avanti West Coast has become just the latest poster boy of the failing status quo.
The worst performing operator in the country – half of all trains late, 60,000 complaints, and what have the Tories done in response?
They handed them £19m including – and you couldn’t make this up – £4m in performance bonuses.
Out of the pockets of the public, and directly into the hands of shareholders.
Instead of holding those responsible to account for this fiasco – the Tories played their tired, old tune.
They blamed the workers who keep our rail network going.
But we know the truth conference.
The workers aren’t failing the British public – the Tories and their disastrous rail system have catastrophically failed us all.
Under the Conservatives, British railways have become a cash machine for companies and foreign governments.
No matter the performance, failure will always be rewarded.
The truth is, the Conservatives still worship the dogma that has let this country down.
They will always give the operators one more chance.
And shareholders one more pay-day.
They will do whatever it takes to prop up a failed system.
Because to do anything else would be to admit their ideology is wrong.
Right across our transport system, we see the same failed dogma.
No other country in the developed world allows private bus operators the power they enjoy here – to pick what routes they want and charge passengers whatever they wish.
Entire communities cut off by decisions taken far away from the people they affect.
5,000 bus services slashed nationwide since the Conservatives came to power.
Fares have risen twice as fast as wages.
And who relies on buses more than anyone else – the poorest in society.
This cannot go on, things must change.
And Labour in government will make sure they will.
We will put the public back in control of the essential public transport they depend upon.
We will give those communities that want it the power to set bus routes and fares, following the path set by our brilliant Mayors in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and here in Liverpool City Region.
And we will end the ideological ban on communities establishing their own municipal bus companies.
Conference, the days of tinkering around the edges of a system that has so clearly failed the public are over.
That’s why an incoming Labour government will end this farce.
We will end this failed experiment.
We will cast aside the tired dogma that has failed passengers.
We will improve services and lower fares.
And yes conference, Labour in power will bring our railways back into public ownership as contracts expire.
Because we believe in a public transport system where power is in the hands of the public.
A system that serves– above all else – the public interest.
Where lower fares, and more reliable services help reverse the spiral of decline.
A system that can deliver economic, social and climate justice.
Together, we can build it.
So, now, let’s get out there, win power and make it happen!
The speech made by Louise Haigh, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, in the House of Commons on 20 June 2022.
No one in the country wants these strikes to go ahead, but as I have repeatedly said, even at this eleventh hour they can still be avoided. That requires Ministers to step up and show leadership. It requires them to get employers and unions round the table and address the very serious issues, involving pay and cuts in safety and maintenance staff, that are behind this dispute.
The entire country is about to grind to a halt, but instead of intervening to try and stop it, the Secretary of State is washing his hands of any responsibility. On the eve of the biggest rail dispute in a generation taking place on his watch, he has still not lifted a finger to resolve it. Not one meeting. No talks, no discussions; only media interviews and a petition to the Labour party. This is a grave dereliction of duty. Should the strikes go ahead tomorrow, they will represent a catastrophic failure of leadership. Ministers owe it to all those impacted by this serious disruption to get around the table for last-ditch talks to sort it out and avert it. If the Secretary of State will not listen to me—[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
Order. Can the hon. Member for St Austell and Newquay (Steve Double) and the right hon. Member for Leicester South (Jonathan Ashworth) either go outside or be quiet for a little while?
Louise Haigh
If the Secretary of State will not listen to me, he should at least listen to his own colleague and former parliamentary aide, the right hon. Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Jake Berry), who said yesterday:
“I can tell you the only way out of a dispute is via negotiation. I’d call on all parties including the Government to get around the table because this is going to have a huge negative impact on people’s lives.”
The Secretary of State’s own MPs and the public know that the only way to sort this out is for him to do his job.
But that is not all, because this week it was revealed that the Secretary of State had not only boycotted the talks but tied the hands of those at the table. He and his Department failed to give the train operating companies—a party to the talks—any mandate to negotiate whatsoever. One source close to the negotiations said:
“Without a mandate from Government we can’t even address the pay question.”
Today, the Rail Delivery Group confirmed that it had not even begun those discussions. That is the reality. These talks are a sham, because Ministers have set them up to fail. It is for the Government to settle this dispute. They are integral to these negotiations, which cannot be resolved unless the Secretary of State is at the table, but it is becoming clearer by the day that Ministers would rather provoke this dispute than lift a finger to resolve it.
This is the same Transport Secretary who just a few short weeks ago was feigning outrage over the disgraceful behaviour of P&O and who is now adopting its playbook. Replacing skilled, safety-critical staff with agency workers cannot and must not be an option. So what exactly has changed between the Secretary of State calling on the public to boycott P&O and now, when he is suggesting that that behaviour should be legalised?
Tomorrow we will see unprecedented disruption. We have been clear: we do not want the strikes to happen. Where we are in government, we are doing our job. In Labour-run Wales, a strike by train staff has been avoided. Employers, unions and the Government have come together to manage change. That is what any responsible Government would be doing right now, because whether it is today, tomorrow or next week, the only way this dispute will be resolved is with a resolution on pay and job security. The Secretary of State owes it to the hundreds of thousands of workers who depend on our railways and the tens of thousands of workers employed on them to find that deal.
Those rail workers are not the enemy. They are people who showed real bravery during the pandemic to keep our country going. They showed solidarity to make sure other workers kept going into work. Some lost colleagues and friends as a result. They are the very same people to whom the Prime Minister promised a high-wage economy a year ago before presiding over the biggest fall in living standards since records began. There is still time for the Secretary of State to do the right thing, the brave thing, and show responsibility. Patients, schoolchildren, low-paid workers—the entire country needs a resolution and they will not forgive this Government if they do not step in and resolve this. Even now, at this late hour, I urge the Secretary of State: get around the table and do your job.
Grant Shapps
The hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley (Louise Haigh) used a lot of words to avoid saying the four words, “I condemn the strikes.” She can practise saying it if she likes. I condemn the strikes—will she?
I remind the House that the hon. Lady is a former union official. She will therefore know better than most that negotiations are always held between the employers and the unions. She calls on the Government to get the parties around the table, but they were around the table. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi) is right that they are not now, because the union has just walked out to call a press conference to say the strikes are on.
The hon. Member for Sheffield, Heeley is wrong when she says these strikes are about pay, safety and job cuts. Let us take them in turn. Pay—the unions wrongly told their workers that there would be no pay rise. There will be a pay rise because the pay freeze is coming to an end, so that is untrue.
Safety—it is unsafe to have people walking down the track to check the condition of the lines when it can be done by trains that can take 70,000 pictures a minute and by drones that can look at the lines from overhead. Safety is about updating outdated working practices. If the hon. Lady cared about safety, she would care about modernisation.
Job cuts—the hon. Lady will know there has already been a call for voluntary job cuts. In fact, 5,000-plus people came forward, and 2,700 have been accepted. This is about ensuring we have a railway that is fit for the post-covid world. It is therefore crazy that the RMT jumped the gun and, before the talks had a chance to get anywhere, launched into strikes.
The hon. Lady’s call for the Government to be more involved is a desperate attempt to deflect from the fact the Labour party and its constituency Labour parties have received £250,000 from the RMT. And that is nothing—Labour has received £100 million from the unions over the last 10 years, and Labour Members are here today, as ever, failing to condemn strikes that will hurt ordinary people, that will hurt kids trying to do their GCSEs and A-levels, that will hurt people trying to get to hospital appointments that were delayed during covid, and that will even see veterans miss armed forces celebrations this week.
There is no excuse for the hon. Lady and her Front-Bench team sitting on the fence. I can almost feel her pain as she resists saying the four words, “I condemn the strikes.”