Hansard

As colleagues know, I have consistently advocated for full devolution of Scotland’s railways to better integrate track and train. Unfortunately, the UK Government is not willing to pursue that change at this time. However, I have made it clear that the Scottish ministers would not accept any reduction in our existing devolved powers and that Scotland must benefit from rail reform to the same extent as the rest of Great Britain. The bill respects those requirements, and I and my officials have had long and extensive engagement with UK ministers and the Department for Transport to secure that position for Scotland.

The bill will create a new body—Great British Railways—which will operate, maintain and allocate access to rail infrastructure across the UK. GBR will also deliver passenger services that are currently the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Transport.

The Scottish ministers will retain their current devolved responsibilities, including securing the provision of ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper and specifying and funding rail infrastructure in Scotland. The bill will introduce new provisions that will strengthen accountability for rail infrastructure in Scotland to the Scottish ministers, including a new and improved infrastructure funding regime and, importantly, new powers for the Scottish ministers to issue guidance and directions to GBR on areas of rail outputs that we specify, fund and set strategy for.

The potential benefits of greater accountability over the infrastructure management cannot be overstated. Our experience of ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper coming into public ownership is that greater accountability to ministers results in better outcomes for passengers. Public ownership has allowed for significant benefits to passengers, such as the scrapping of peak fares. Since public ownership, ScotRail’s overall passenger satisfaction has consistently been among the highest across Great Britain, at 90 per cent, and the Scottish train performance measure also has ScotRail at around 90 per cent. ScotRail performs better on cancellations than most GB operators, and figures for 2024-25 show that ScotRail had around half as many cancellations as the GB average.

This Government is clear in its commitment to retaining the benefits of delivering passenger services in public ownership, and the bill does not change that. I support the policy intent of the bill, in particular its ambition to maximise the benefits of greater integration while respecting devolved arrangements. The Scottish Government supports open access and freight development and the LCM is about devolved responsibilities. The Scottish ministers therefore recommend that the Parliament should support the motion.

Agreeing to the LCM will help us to defend the powers of this Parliament on rail, just as, for the past 27 years, I have sought to defend, promote and protect the institution of this Parliament in which I have had the enormous privilege of serving. I thank all those who have been on the journey with me: parliamentary and constituency staff; members from all parties; and, of course, the people of Scotland, with their hopes and dreams of a Scotland that is fair and just for all and is the country that they know it can be.