Speeches by Alexander.

“This Government are ushering in a new era for our railways, with landmark legislation to set up Great British Railways making good progress in this place. Eight train operators are now run by the public for the public, with West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway services nationalised at the end of Januar…”

“I fear that the right hon. Gentleman may have misunderstood the proposals for reform in the Railways Bill. In future, open access decisions will be taken by Great British Railways, and applicants will have a right of appeal to the ORR. There is no conflict of interest. I can also assure him that in the past I have been…”

“The hon. Member may wish to tell his residents about the Government’s determination to tackle these issues. For example, we have doubled the fines that local authorities can charge utility companies when works overrun. I recognise how disruptive these works are for local communities, and it is an issue that the Governm…”

“I am happy to arrange that meeting. Like my hon. Friend, I want Sunderland station to be at the heart of a vibrant community, and I pay tribute to him for his campaigning on the issue. I do expect Northern to work closely with him, businesses and the local community to further improve the station, and I look forward to…”

“I can tell the hon. Gentleman that we are already on this issue across the wider south-east. We are expanding the pay-as-you-go system with tap-in, tap-out technology, and further stations are due to come online. I am happy to talk about a further tranche beyond that, but we need to crack on with the ones that are alre…”

“I appreciate that certain roads and certain parts of the country face different challenges due to their geology. I will certainly raise the hon. Member’s point with the Roads Minister, and we will come back to him.”

“Can I gently suggest to the right hon. Gentleman that he listens to the answers that I give? He claims that I am not across the details of the BTP numbers, but I can tell him that there has been a slight decrease from 2,910 to 2,852 full-time equivalents in the last year. I can also tell him that BTP has recently been …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her question, and her Committee for its work on the important report that it published this week. We all want to see an end to the boom and bust in our rail supply chain, which damages capacity and skills retention and does not provide value for money. I can tell my hon. Friend that the Depar…”

“I recognise that for local people, road closures can be one of the most disruptive aspects of major projects. I know that HS2 works very closely with highways authorities to minimise the impacts. Doing the essential work on the A38 in a single 11-day closure will avoid around six months of repeated full-weekend closure…”

“That is precisely why we have established an accountability and transparency framework for local authorities, under which they need to report to us the amount of proactive resurfacing they are doing, which can obviously represent better value for money for the taxpayer. I know that people want to see contractors gettin…”

“I do understand the importance of that junction to the hon. Gentleman’s constituents, and he has previously asked me about the scheme. It is a Transport for London scheme. I would point out that the previous Government—which, before switching to a different party on the Opposition Benches, he was a part of—provided ver…”

“The hon. Lady is, of course, right that when people are stood on a platform on a Sunday, the train should turn up as reliably as it does on a Monday morning. The truth of the matter is that there is a raft of different practices across train operating companies. We have a plan to ensure that drivers and train crew are …”

“My Department is working across Government and with partners, including the British Transport police and the transport industry, to ensure that everyone both feels safe and is safe when travelling. Our mainline railway is among the safest in Europe, and our recently published road safety strategy sets out our vision fo…”

“Good, well-run rail services support economic growth. We are investing more than £10 billion over four years to improve the railway, as well as progressing work on major schemes such as HS2, East West Rail and the trans-Pennine route upgrade. Our reforms to establish Great British Railways will drive economic growth, i…”

“This Government remain fully committed to the zero emission vehicle transition and the ZEV mandate. In 2025, the UK had the largest electric vehicle market share of any major European economy, thanks to the certainty provided by clear Government policy and the £7.5 billion that we are investing by 2035 to support indus…”

“I do agree with my hon. Friend, who I know has expert knowledge of the charge point industry. The clarity that the ZEV mandate provides has triggered over £6 billion-worth of private sector investment in charging infrastructure, and it is one of the reasons why we have a brand-new gigafactory being built in Somerset an…”

“I can assure the hon. Gentleman that this Government take our national security duties very seriously. We are taking significant steps to support the UK car manufacturing sector, and we are also supporting consumers to make the transition to EVs, with over 44 models now available for the electric car grant that we anno…”

“The hon. Lady is right to raise this issue. I have been in contact with the DVLA about this matter; it is putting new systems in place to ensure that it is doing everything that it can, as standard, to process these cases as quickly as possible. In the meantime, I have been keen to ensure that there is an escalation me…”

“I know that my hon. Friend takes an active interest in this issue, given the importance of bus manufacturing to his constituents in Falkirk. We are backing Britain’s bus manufacturers with long-term certainty through the 10-year zero emission bus pipeline and the work of the bus manufacturing expert panel. We have also…”

“I am afraid that is just not true. Compared with 2024, EV sales increased by nearly a quarter in 2025, and nine in 10 drivers who switch would recommend an EV thanks to ease of use and a quieter, smoother driving experience. All the evidence suggests that once people get an electric vehicle, they never look back.”