Hansard

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 of a reliable, resilient, affordable and accessible railway. The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill aligns with our policy aims, which is why we support the legislative consent motion and recommend that the Scottish Parliament supports it.

Since ScotRail and the Caledonian sleeper moved into public sector control through operator-of-last-resort arrangements, we have seen continuous improvements as a result. ScotRail has added more than 200 additional services each weekday, offering 7 per cent more seats, and passenger numbers have increased by 75 per cent, from 46.7 million in 2021-22 to around 82 million in 2023-24. On average, ScotRail remains one of the highest-scoring operators in terms of overall passenger satisfaction. It is fully appreciated that the past few months have seen a dip in comparison with the preceding period, which coincided with a reduced service as a result of a temporary timetable.

The changes that the bill will make to the current railways legislation will allow rail passenger services to be delivered by a public sector company as the first-choice option, rather than as a last resort under a franchising model that the Scottish Government has regularly criticised. That will enable current public sector delivery arrangements to be made permanent, providing a stable framework from which we can continue to provide those services.

We are not in favour of returning to the failed Tory franchise system, but any concern that the bill removes the power of any future Scottish Government that may wish to reintroduce the franchise model—a failed model—is incorrect. The Scottish Parliament cannot currently make provision regarding the manner in which rail passenger services are provided; that is a reserved matter, and nothing in the United Kingdom bill will change that. Therefore, it is only through full devolution of rail that any future Scottish Government would truly be able to decide the preferred method of rail service delivery, whether that be publicly or privately operated.

That is one of the reasons why full devolution of rail has been a long-standing objective of Scottish ministers and it is a reason why all members should support that position in consideration of the future UK Great British railways bill. Any future changes to the railways legislation that would impact on devolved powers would also be subject to the convention that the UK Government will not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the Scottish Parliament’s consent, which would be sought through a further legislative consent memorandum process, as appropriate.

Therefore, to ensure that we have a publicly owned and publicly run rail system in Scotland, I recommend that the Parliament votes to support the legislative consent motion for the UK Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill.