Member News
ePolitix.com reports on Lindsay Hoyle's Westminster Hall debate on transport in the North West.
Lindsay Hoyle (Lab, Chorley) began by calling for more investment in transport and highlighted the successes of free bus travel for pensioners.
The Labour MP also congratulated the government on the increase in demand that this had created and called for the programme to be extended to train travel.
Nigel Evans (Con, Ribble Valley) intervened to highlight "large tracts" where there "are no bus services". He called for an enhanced level of bus transport in rural areas.
Hoyle agreed, noting that rural rail stations could be used as part of his call for "free regional rail travel for pensioners".
He also asked why there was a "transport lottery depending on where you live".
Derek Twigg (Lab, Halton) drew attention to the Mersey Gateway bridge, creating four to five thousand new jobs and with benefits for the North West as a whole.
Hoyle demanded a high-speed link to international airports and England's "second city" Manchester. He did not want the network to "divert to the Midlands".
Tony Lloyd (Lab, Manchester Central) called for adequate rail links into the cities as well as a high speed link.
Hoyle accepted the need to link Liverpool, Manchester and Preston and drew attention to the additional need to widen the M6.
Edward Timpson (Con, Crewe and Nantwich) called for the modernisation of existing stations.
He criticised Network Rail's decision to halt service from stopping at Addlington because it was "crowded when it had reached Bolton" and argued that Greater Manchester Passenger Transport was not the correct stakeholder to consult.
Network Rail and the transport authorities need to "get their act together", he said, concluding by asking the minister to "get Network Rail by the scruff of their neck".
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd