Heidi Alexander MP: speeches

Speeches

• 9 Jan 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  The truth of the matter is that when this Government came to office, we inherited a raft of half-baked, unfunded schemes that we are having to work through to provide a sensible pipeline of infrastructure improvements for our country. I will take no lessons from the hon. Gentleman about investment in our national infrastructure.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the damage that potholes can cause for all road users. We have committed record money to fixing this issue and to enabling councils to get on with this work. All local authorities should have their own standards of road maintenance service and inspection in line with local needs and priorities. However, I do want to update the Department’s guidance to local authorities on how best to look after their highways networks and ensure best practice is followed, and so that there are common minimum standards so that all road users know what they can expect.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we have nothing against car drivers and truck users. We appreciate the long-standing local desire for dualling the A1 from Morpeth to Ellingham, but I am sorry to say that in the assessment we carried out post the general election, it represented poor value for money. There have been several delays to the development consent order decision and the contractors were decommissioned more than two years ago. In that time, scheme costs have risen significantly, making the scheme even less affordable and further worsening the value for money. Having said that, I recognise that there are safety issues on the existing route, which we will need to look at carefully, as we would with any other part of the network. However, that alone does not warrant the dualling scheme.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  Our broken roads have long been a national embarrassment, and a proper fund to fix our roads has long been overdue. In answer to my hon. Friend’s specific question, RAC data shows that the average cost of pothole-related damage to vehicles is about £500, with severe repairs often costing much more. The Government’s extra funding for local highways maintenance next year could therefore save individual motorists in Thurrock hundreds of pounds, if not more.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  I have been clear that local transport authorities should use the money in a way that provides excellent value for money for the taxpayer, and the situation that the hon. Member described does concern me. We have waited a long time for this level of investment to come forward, and I am keen to see local authorities such as his cracking on with the job and making sure that motorists—all road users, for that matter—have safe, smooth roads that they can travel on.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  I will ask my colleague the Minister for the Future of Roads to have that meeting with the council. However, the additional money that we have provided, and the individual allocations that were announced before Christmas, can be used not just for road maintenance, but for bridges and pavements.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  I disagree slightly with the hon. Gentleman, because I think a £500 million uplift is proper funding—it represents, on average, a 40% increase, and it takes the overall amount of funding up to £1.8 billion. However, I do agree with his substantive point. Some of this money should be used for proactive preventative road resurfacing, because in some cases that will provide the best value for money for the taxpayer.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  We agree that local authorities should not just patch potholes, but focus on long-term preventive programmes for repairing and maintaining all parts of the highway network, including footpaths, pavements and bridges. We will require local authorities to follow best practice to get the full funding uplift, and we will update the guidance document “Well-managed Highway Infrastructure: A Code of Practice” to support local authorities in that and to emphasise the importance of proactive preventive measures.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Road Maintenance · Hansard source

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  We are more than matching the commitments made by the previous Government. Let me say gently to the hon. Gentleman that his commitment in respect of resurfacing roads falls into exactly the same category as the promise to provide 40 new hospitals, and a range of other commitments that proved not to be worth the paper they were written on. They were fantasy figures, unlike the Labour party’s promise to deliver change. An additional £500 million is coming into our highways maintenance budgets, so that people across the country can see that change delivered to their local areas.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Local Transport Authorities and Mayors: Financial Support · Hansard source

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  A number of options are outlined in the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill, which had its Second Reading in the other place yesterday, including franchising options, enhanced local bus partnerships and municipal ownership of bus companies. While my hon. Friend’s suggestion is not currently in the Bill, I gently point out to him that there would have to be an authority to let contracts, including with private providers. While I am happy to explore options, we need to think through the practicalities of suggestions such as his.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Local Transport Authorities and Mayors: Financial Support · Hansard source

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  May I start by saying it is very good to be here? I wish you, Mr Speaker, and the House staff a happy new year, and I wish the Aviation Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East (Mike Kane), a happy birthday.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Local Transport Authorities and Mayors: Financial Support · Hansard source

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  The Government stepped in to ensure that bus fares would not explode at the beginning of this year, when the £2 fare cap that the previous Government legislated for ran out. In the worst-case scenario, costs on some services could have increased by 650%, and it was important that we took that action to ensure such fare rises were avoidable. I advise her local authority to work through any issues with the regional mayor. It is vital that we see transport authorities of all types collaborating to ensure that we have good, high-frequency, high-quality bus services for local people to go about their daily lives.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Local Transport Authorities and Mayors: Financial Support · Hansard source

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  In the Budget, the Government confirmed more than £1 billion of funding to support bus services, an additional £200 million for the city region sustainable transport settlements for eligible mayors, more than £650 million for local transport outside the city regions, a £500 million increase in local highways maintenance, and £485 million in capital funding for Transport for London.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Local Transport Authorities and Mayors: Financial Support · Hansard source

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  We consider business cases for rail enhancements fairly, and no undue advantage would be given to the areas that the hon. Gentleman suggested. I was fortunate in my first couple of weeks in this job to visit the opening of the Northumberland line, which provides services up to Ashington. I know what an invaluable difference the improved connectivity on the rail network can provide. I would be happy to talk to him about his schemes.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Local Transport Authorities and Mayors: Financial Support · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his kind words, and I assure him that the Government are committed to improving local transport across individual local authority boundaries. We have provided more than £1 billion in funding to the Greater Manchester combined authority in his area, which takes a strategic approach to managing transport across its region. My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has also set out ambitious measures in the recent “English Devolution” White Paper to support more joined-up running of local transport networks, which people rely upon every day.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I will certainly ask the Rail Minister to take that meeting.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend. I have already met a number of Members of Parliament in the Gateshead area about some of the recent problems with the flyover, and met the Mayor for the region.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We are six months in. The Conservative party had 14 years. Those promises are worth nothing without a plan to deliver.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I agree. We will not make the same mistakes when we take train operating companies into public ownership. We will do it properly. It is a massive undertaking, but we will make our railways a system for the whole country to be proud of.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I would be happy to.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Yes, I think I will have a busy diary coming up.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Transport is at the heart of this Government’s plan for change. Since I joined the Department more than a month ago, we have introduced the Bus Services Bill, which will give transport authorities across the country the tools to take back control of local services. We are bringing clarity and confidence to our automotive industry, with a consultation on how we will restore the 2030 phase-out date for new petrol and diesel cars. We have also confirmed the first three train operators that will be brought under public control later this year. We have delivered record funding to protect vital bus routes and keep fairs capped, and we smashed our manifesto target with a £1.6 billion investment to repair 7 million more potholes on Britain’s broken roads. I am determined that our transport system delivers reliable, accessible journeys for all; enables the construction of millions of new homes; supports the jobs and industries of the future; and enables rising living standards for everyone in every part of Britain.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We have had decades of chaos on the railways, and railways that simply did not work for people. What is needed is a fundamental reset with the trade unions to deliver improvements for passenger services.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We are working on a whole range of schemes in respect of the spending review, and I will provide the hon. Gentleman with more information as soon as I have it.

• 9 Jan 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We spend about £2 billion a year on rail enhancement projects. We will be looking carefully through the spending review at all proposals that get freight off the roads and increase the availability of passenger services.