HC Deb 17 March 1976 vol 907 cc1296-9
2. Mr. Jessel

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he plans to meet the Chairman of British Rail.

10. Mr. Newton

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he next plans to meet the Chairman of British Rail.

24. Mr. Crawford

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what further meetings he proposes to hold with the Chairman of British Rail.

The Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Anthony Crosland)

As hon. Members will already know, I met the Chairman at the beginning of this week, when he advised me that he did not wish to be reappointed when his present term of office expires in September.

I am sure that the House will join me in paying tribute to the unstinting efforts of Sir Richard Marsh to promote the interests of the railways and railwaymen in what has been a very difficult period for them. His knowledge and experience will of course be available during the critical period ahead of consultations about the future development of transport policy. I hope to make an announcement about the Chairman's successor before long.

Mr. Jessel

Why have the Government allowed Sir Richard Marsh and the British Railways Board recently to increase British Rail fares in such a way that commuters have to pay 17 per cent. extra as against a 10 per cent. increase on inter-city fares so that the quarterly season ticket from Hampton to Waterloo, for example, has doubled from £31 to £62? Is the Minister aware——

Mr. Speaker

Order. That is enough to get on with.

Mr. Crosland

The average commuter gets the same subsidy as any other passenger. The reason for the increase in fares is that the Government have set British Rail certain short-term financial targets and in order to meet those targets it is for British Rail, not the Government, to decide whether fare increases will produce a net increase in revenue.

Mr. Flannery

Will my right hon. Friend say whether in any recent conversations with the Chairman of British Rail any plan has been outlined for the integration of our transport system?

Mr. Crosland

The question of the integration or co-ordination of the different parts of the transport system will play a central part in the consultative document which I hope to issue next month.

Mr. Newton

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the commuters of Essex, and no doubt everywhere else, are as sick and tired of the absence of a proper Government policy for the railways as is Sir Richard Marsh? Will he tell us when we are likely to get a policy which will take proper account of the social and planning consequences of what is happening to commuter services?

Mr. Crosland

I am distressed to hear that the commuters of Essex are sick and tired. If the hon. Gentleman watched the Chairman of British Rail on television on Monday night, he would have observed that his criticisms were directed equally to Governments of both parties, certainly not only to this Government. I hope to issue a very exhaustive consultative document on future transport policy next month.

Mr. Gwilym Roberts

When appointing the next Chairman of British Rail, will my right hon. Friend choose a man with knowledge of the railway industry who is a long-standing member of the Labour Party and sympathetic to the social content of this sector of public transport?

Mr. Crosland

I have had a lot of offers from hon. Friends who are members of one or other of the various transport unions.

Mr. Crawford

I should like to put a simple and straightforward question to which I hope the right hon. Gentleman will give a simple and straightforward answer. Can he give a categorical assurance that there will be no cut-backs in the railway network in Scotland? The Scottish National Party is extremely concerned about reports that there may be cut-backs.

Mr. Crosland

I have already made it clear on innumerable occasions in this House that the suggestions illustrated in a map of alleged railway cuts are without foundation. I cannot guarantee that every line in the country will remain for eternity, but I can give the hon. Gentleman an absolute assurance that the major part of our existing railway network will be preserved.

Mr. Bagier

Will my right hon. Friend take this opportunity of discounting some of the comments which were made when Sir Richard Marsh resigned and which suggested that one reason for his resignation was that he had a foresight of what the review would say and disliked the fact that the railways were to be knocked to pieces by my right hon. Friend? Will he take this opportunity of either confirming or denying that suggestion?

Mr. Crosland

Naturally, I do not like to speak on behalf of Sir Richard Marsh, but I do not think that he would object if I said that that was not his reason for resigning. His reason was that he felt that under successive Governments—I think that he directed his criticism more at the previous Government than at this—the railways had not been given sufficiently clear objectives and so he did not want to continue for a further term. I hope that that criticism, which, incidentally, has a lot of force in it, will be met when we publish the consultative document.

Mr. Raison

It is untrue that Sir Richard Marsh was more critical of the previous Government than of this. On behalf of the Opposition, I should like to join in the Secretary of State's thanks to Sir Richard Marsh for his services to British Rail.

Will the right hon. Gentleman assure us that he will give full backing to whoever becomes the new Chairman of British Rail in a determined drive to achieve financial and managerial discipline on the railways?

Mr. Crosland

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his tribute to Sir Richard Marsh. The answer to the last part of his question is "Yes".