Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 31 October 2024
31 Oct 2024 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill
My party believes that the bill would have a detrimental effect on Scottish travellers who rely on key cross-border services such as Avanti West Coast. It would also limit competition. Cut-price rail providers such as Lumo, which planned, over the summer, to provide an increased east coast mainline service from Edinburgh Waverley to London King’s Cross, and which also hopes to expand through to the west in Glasgow, could be prevented from providing such a service once the franchise ends.
Finally, and more importantly, the legislation would tie the hands of Scottish ministers and compel them to keep ScotRail and the Caledonian sleeper in public ownership.
17:02In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Alison Johnstone)
NPA
The next item of business is consideration of motion S6M-15088, in the name of Fiona Hyslop, which is a legislative consent motion on the Passenger Railway S...
Sue Webber (Lothian) (Con)
Con
The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill would remove the presumption in favour of franchised passenger railway services being provided by the ...
Richard Leonard (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Hear, hear.
Sue Webber
Con
—and that is something that my party cannot support. On 17 July 2024, the shadow transport secretary, Helen Whately, described nationalisation as “a move t...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
Let us hear Ms Webber.
Sue Webber
Con
She said that “Nationalising well-run operators won’t bring fares down or make services more reliable”. Furthermore, Rail Partners, which represents the in...
Ross Greer (West Scotland) (Green)
Green
Ms Webber seems to be arguing that nationalisation is ideological, and therefore a bad thing. Surely privatisation was the ideological choice that was made i...
Sue Webber
Con
My party believes that the bill would have a detrimental effect on Scottish travellers who rely on key cross-border services such as Avanti West Coast. It wo...
The Cabinet Secretary for Transport (Fiona Hyslop)
SNP
The Scottish Government’s policy aims and objectives are for a fully publicly owned railway to deliver for the people of Scotland and to achieve our vision o...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
The question on the motion will be put at decision time.