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Sir Roger Moate (Faversham): The hon. Gentleman's problem is that most people remember that, for all its good intentions and commitments, the last Labour Government reduced investment in the railways not for one or two years, but year after year. The hon. Gentleman derides our investment plans through the private sector, but will he confirm what commitment a Labour Government would make to investing in the railways? How much would a Labour Government invest in a public railway system?
Mr. Wilson: Why look in the crystal ball when one can read the book? Two years ago, investment in the railways was at its lowest level in real terms since nationalisation in 1948. I can point to a record of investment, but the Tories can point only to dreams of investment. They now have an investment bible which, by their own admission, will yield no new electrification schemes around the country.
I shall run through some of the flotation arguments. The hon. Member for Eastleigh (Mr. Chidgey) has already drawn attention to a grubby little document that tells every unsolicited recipient of it that
That is how the sale of Railtrack is being marketed. I ask the Secretary of State what action the Government have taken against one of their official share shops for describing Railtrack as a property speculation company. If he intends to pursue it over that matter, he can also inform it that, when Labour comes to power, we will quickly take regulatory action to ensure that every penny in property proceeds from the railways is reinvested in the railways, as occurred in the past. The Tories are yet again selling their product in a manner that is in breach of the Trade Descriptions Act 1968.
I refer briefly to the £69 million of taxpayers' money. We must understand what is going on. I thought that, according to the theory of capital, investment is about risk; yet taxpayers' money is being recycled as Railtrack's profit. It will be sprinkled like confetti among Railtrack's shareholders--not one of whom was a shareholder when the money was raised. Where is the morality in that and where is the risk?
Some £69 million will be given as a bribe to potential shareholders. It could have paid for major electrification projects such as the Glasgow, Queen Street to Edinburgh line or the north trans-Pennine Leeds to Manchester and Liverpool line. It could have been used to replace the remaining Kent coast rolling stock. There are no ifs, buts or talk about in three years' time: that is what the£69 million could have achieved. Will Tory Members of Parliament representing Kent constituencies take that message to their constituents instead of the bogus one that they were peddling?
I turn to the last of the great incentives and the letter from Mr. John Welsby. I would love to scrutinise it in great detail, but time is pressing. The Tories' deceit is again writ large: if the letter had not been leaked, we would never have known that the chairman of British Rail had written to the permanent secretary at the Department of Transport, with copies to Mr. Roger Salmon andMr. Robert Horton, saying that the Railtrack prospectus contains several fundamental untruths. The prospectus is seriously misleading. It fails to inform potential investors of Railtrack's performance as manager of the rail infrastructure network and it fails to provide them with "material information", in the words of Mr. Welsby.
The Minister for Railways and Roads (Mr. John Watts):
Those who rely on leaked documents are unlikely to get to the whole truth. The letter from which the hon. Member for Cunninghame, North (Mr. Wilson) was quoting was written in response to a request to the British Railways Board to comment on the first draft of the prospectus.
One of the points that Mr. Welsby made in the letter was that there should be a clearer exposition of the role and powers of the regulator. The letter from the Rail
Regulator containing the statement that is now printed in the pathfinder prospectus was sent by Mr. Swift the day after Mr. Welsby's letter. As the reply from the Permanent Secretary indicates, all the concerns expressed by British Rail have been taken fully into account in the final version of the prospectus, which the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms Short) has not seen because it has not yet been published.
Ms Short:
Is this one misleading?
Mr. Watts:
That is the pathfinder prospectus and I am not saying that it is misleading. The hon. Lady has difficulty in putting the right words in her own mouth. She should not try to put words into mine.
This is probably our sixth rail privatisation debate in 15 months. The Labour party is obviously over-ambitious in trying to fill a full day's debate. Although the hon. Member for Thurrock (Mr. Mackinlay), who is not in his place, had difficulty squeezing into the debate, throughout the afternoon Opposition Members struggled to find anything new or relevant to say. Even the hon. Member for Ladywood could manage only a 20-minute speech.
Mr. Dalyell:
Will the Minister give way?
Mr. Watts:
I shall respond to the hon. Gentleman's point later. If I give way now, I shall have less time to do so.
It is clear that, after all this time, the Opposition are still trying to fill their policy vacuum in transport, as in much of their approach to politics. What should they do if they have a policy vacuum? The Labour motion suggests that the answer is to call for "a thorough review". Is its alternative to a policy to fill the vacuum with calls for a thorough review?
Reading on, I find some of the aims in the motion wholly admirable. It aims to secure
and finally, and quite importantly,
The problem for the Opposition is that our policy, not theirs, meets those objectives. Having struggled for so long to find a policy, why are they so shy of adopting their normal approach, which is simply to embrace ours? They have done so on many other matters of policy, so why do they not on rail privatisation?
As my hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr. Luff) reminded the House, the shadow Cabinet, reliant as it is on the support and sponsorship of the trade union movement, is unable to adopt an honest policy because the union bosses will not allow it.
The hon. Member for Cunninghame, North mentioned the investment plans of Railtrack and quoted rightly the statement that Railtrack intends to spend more than£1 billion a year for the next 10 years. What he did not quote, although he could have found it in the pathfinder prospectus from which many hon. Members have quoted so readily throughout the debate, was that in the five years to 31 March 2001 Railtrack intends to spend approximately £8.125 billion. That appears to be higher than the £1.37 billion that the hon. Gentleman said was necessary to achieve steady state spending.
My hon. Friend the hon. Member for Dartford(Mr. Dunn) dealt with the only real news of the day when he welcomed the announcement that, in letting the franchise for South Eastern Trains, there would be a requirement for new rolling stock. Incredibly, I heard during the course of the day that the trade union front organisation, Save Our Railways, said that it was opposed to that idea. It cannot even accept one piece of good news.
The hon. Member for Cunninghame, North asked how a promise to be fulfilled in 1999 could be given any credence. The final bids, which are to be made on the basis of the replacement of the rolling stock, must be with the franchising director by mid-June. When the franchise is let, the new franchiser will be locked into a contractual commitment to meet all the terms of the franchise agreement, including that to replace rolling stock. My hon. Friends know that they now have a promise on which they can rely, which they have not received from the nationalised railway industry.
Sir Roger Moate:
Did my hon. Friend note that the hon. Member for Cunninghame, North (Mr. Wilson) expressed real disappointment that the order had been announced--and he got that wrong, as he did almost everything else? The hon. Gentleman said that the rolling stock would not be ordered until 1999. He missed the point that the rolling stock that will be life-expired by then must be replaced by 1999.
Mr. Watts:
My hon. Friend is exactly right. It is not just South Eastern that will have new rolling stock, because the contract for the 15-year franchise for the Gatwick Express requires a commitment to a completely new fleet of rolling stock. The first franchise for Great Western contains a commitment for the total refurbishment of all rolling stock in return for a 10-year franchise. A couple of weeks ago, Porterbrook Leasing announced a £40 million-plus deal with ABB for the refurbishment of other InterCity stock.
"Railtrack is not an operator of trains . . . It is essentially a property company and the land that Railtrack will own could be regarded as one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the UK".
"higher levels of rail investment, improved services"
"the best possible return on taxpayers' money."
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