The comments made by Louise Haigh, the Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, on Twitter on 17 November 2022.
Rishi Sunak told voters he would deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail IN FULL – now he’s abandoned it.
A lost decade of broken promises has left us with second-rate infrastructure and held our economy back.
They crashed the economy, and want Northern communities to pay the price.
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!