Speeches by Alexander.

“I would need to check the details of that with officials and come back to you on it but I am aware of the type of challenges that you outline and it is a fair question to ask.”

“Jo, do you know the answer?”

“I really do not want to get too drawn into the detail of this because as soon as I say that I would protect one thing, the response will be, “Well, you’re not protecting something else.” I hope you will forgive me if this answer is not as clear as the ones I would normally seek to give you. We have a large capital budg…”

“There are really three aspects to it when it comes to how we approach devolution. I have always believed that decisions should be taken at a level where the best knowledge resides about the impacts of those decisions and where the ability to implement decisions sits. I am just conscious that when I am sitting at my des…”

“Realistically it is going to take a long time to sort this problem out. By the autumn of next year we should be back down to the seven-week aspiration that we have.”

“The statistics that we have produced and published have not been particularly helpful in terms of average wait times so we are changing the statistics that we are going to be publishing routinely, broken down by driving test centre. My aspiration is to get us back down to a point where when someone is booking a test th…”

“I take your point.”

“That is certainly not the aspiration that I would want for the people of Cambridge and Peterborough but it is the way in which individual, locally elected leaders decide to use the funding that we have allocated to them and the level of aspiration that they have for their bus network. It is their decision given that bu…”

“Our actions judge us by what we are doing with our funding to mayors across the country and local authorities. We have £3 billion that we are funnelling to local authorities for improvements to their bus network. We are also funding mayoral combined authorities through the Transport for City Regions funding to improve …”

“We have seen the rollout of new electric buses in lots of those city regions. I detect a lot of ambition; I am just sad it is obviously not shared by everyone everywhere.”

“I hope you will understand that I am not going to get into detailed commentary on speculation that we have seen in the media. The Government will be setting out their approach to the defence investment plan shortly, and we will detail the approach to funding as part of that. It is right as a responsible Government, as …”

“Yes. We have decided to move to a system where it is expenses only. The MCA has done a lot of engagement with its staff in recent months and the proposal is to move to this position in September. The leadership of the MCA have offered to speak to any MPs who are representing coastal communities and beyond who want to t…”

“It is a positive measure. Could we do more? Potentially but there would be additional costs associated with that. Bearing in mind the financial constraints that we are operating in, a £3 bus fare cap was the right thing to do so that people were not experiencing massive jumps in the cost of their fare. I know that in s…”

“I am acutely aware that for young people who want weekend jobs—perhaps their first experience of a job—you have villages on the outskirts of towns and cities across the country where there might not be a bus running at all on a Saturday or Sunday. In the next spending review that we will be going through in 2027, I wou…”

“My hon. Friend raises an important issue. She will be aware that we have already legislated to establish national standards and to reform the way that enforcement action can be taken against private hire drivers and vehicles, no matter where they are licensed. Those standards will provide a robust framework to make sur…”

“It is right to prioritise development in sustainable locations, namely around railway stations. The establishment of Great British Railways will enable us to look more holistically at the way in which the ticketing and fares system works, and we are expanding pay-as-you-go ticketing to give a more seamless experience t…”

“I know that there is a long and painful history of failed attempts to build mass transit in West Yorkshire, and I understand why my hon. Friend’s constituents feel let down by what has happened in the past. I assure him that this Government fully support Mayor Tracy Brabin’s plans for mass transit, and we are working h…”

“It is sometimes essential to do maintenance work over the weekends, and I appreciate that that can cause disruption to the travelling public. We try to keep that at a minimum and properly communicate with passengers in advance so they can plan their journeys accordingly. We would not be financially able to provide dire…”

“Decisions about speed limits on local roads are matters for the local highway authority. I think that that is right, because local leaders will know their areas best. I am also acutely aware that if someone is hit by a car travelling at 20 mph, they are five times less likely to die than if they are hit by one travelli…”

“The delivery of mass transit systems has too often been slowed down by fragmented funding arrangements, difficulties in acquiring land and complex planning processes. Our new mass transit taskforce, made up of an independent panel of experts, will make practical recommendations on how we can speed up delivery and remov…”