You’d have thought that MPs would have had enough of elections but, inside, we’ve been at it again with the elections for the Chairs of the House of Commons Select Committees.

This was a one-off oral evidence with the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling MP.

I asked about the out of court settlement with Euro tunnel for no deal Brexit ferry provision and on whether that was the right decision.

With rail passenger numbers having doubled over the last 20 years, it is vital that we build for new capacity across the UK. With this in mind, the Transport Select Committee, of which I have been a member for the last 4 years, visited the site of the new HS2 development at London Euston.

In this week’s Transport Select Committee session, we questioned Allan Cook, the chair of High Speed 2 (HS2), on the progress of the project and discussed potential barriers it faces.

In a debate in Parliament, I spoke positively in Parliament about our rail industry. Like much in life, there is too much negativity in the media with no focus on the many positives. Compared to our EU neighbours, our safety, performance, passenger numbers and investment is top of the class.

East Sussex MP, Huw Merriman, urged the Chancellor to deliver more investment in East Sussex in the House of Commons today.

This week, I was successful in calling for a Westminster Hall debate on ‘Transport for the South East’. This is the name of a new transport body which has been set up by local authorities and enterprise partnerships spanning 7.5m residents in the south east.

Today Huw spoke in the Opposition Day Debate on Rail Franchising. You can watch Huw speak here: https://goo.gl/n83nbx and read Huw's speech below. 

The New Year ushers in bad news on fare increases.

The Department for Transport has today (Wednesday 29 November) published the Invitation To Tender (ITT) for the next South Eastern Franchise. The document set out a plan for high quality, frequent and reliable services, for a railway which is fit for the future and which ensures that South Eastern rail services contribute towards supporting economic growth and opportunity.
The document sets out how faster services will operate between London and Hastings, Rye, Bexhill and Battle. The ITT also explicitly encourages bidders for the next franchise to put forward ambitious and innovative proposals to deliver High Speed services between London St Pancras, Rye, Hastings and Bexhill.