Speeches by Mather.

“I thank the hon. Member for his continued advocacy for this issue on behalf of his constituents. Soon the Department will publish its integrated national transport strategy, setting the long-term vision for domestic transport in England. It will focus on creating a transport network that works well for people so that t…”

“I will have a crack at it, Mr Speaker—thank you. The hon. Member is right to raise a number of issues that affect the experience of passengers on the railway. That experience is exactly what the passenger watchdog, which will be created through Great British Railways, is designed to protect. It will set minimum consume…”

“I am very pleased to hear that my hon. Friend’s constituents are benefiting from contactless payment, but he is right to urge us to go further in ensuring that GBR improves passenger experience and delivers on the priorities of the travelling public. We are committed to improving ticketing further through expanding pay…”

“Passengers will be at the heart of Great British Railways, and it will have a statutory duty to promote the interests of passengers in decision making. GBR will also be required to consult the passenger watchdog when developing its integrated business plan and key policies and procedures that significantly impact on pa…”

“The hon. Gentleman should know that, through the Railways Bill, we are building a system that will ensure that passenger accountability sits at the very heart of how this railway operates. I would be grateful if he could illuminate to me how constituents of his and constituents across the country are served by the prev…”

“I congratulate the hon. Member on the restoration of that service. Would he please extend my thoughts to Louise and Rhiannon over their concerns about their experiences on the railways? Any intimidation or abuse of railway staff or passengers is completely and utterly unacceptable. Department for Transport officials an…”

“I thank the hon. Member for her important question about the reliability of train services in her constituency. We recognise that the number of cancellations is completely unacceptable, and that train crew availability issues have been driving many of those incidents. The Department has commissioned work to understand …”

“My hon. Friend is championing the right of his constituents to use the train to get to where they need to. Alongside local stakeholders, the DFT created the Manchester taskforce in 2020 to identify solutions to performance problems throughout the city. The December 2023 timetable has delivered improvements in reliabili…”

“My hon. Friend is a champion for her constituents and their right to get to where they need to. We are pressing Network Rail and Great Western Railway to improve reliability, which has at times fallen below expectations in recent periods, partly due to recent flooding issues. We expect Network Rail and Great Western Ra…”

“We are starting to see train reliability stabilise, following a decade of decline. We are working with the rail industry on a performance restoration framework, with five clear areas of focus to recover performance to acceptable levels. These include timetable resilience, staffing, and keeping trains safely moving duri…”

“My hon. Friend is a champion for the port of Falmouth. I applaud the work that it is doing to achieve decarbonisation. It is incumbent on me to work with Ofgem and my departmental colleagues in DESNZ to ensure that we speed up the improvement of port capacity and connection to the national grid. I would be very happy t…”

“I agree with the hon. Lady on her ambition to decarbonise maritime. That is why, in my first week as maritime Minister, I announced funding of £448 million to decarbonise UK maritime. She is right to note that electrification and grid capacity are enormous issues. Department for Transport officials continue to work acr…”

“In March, we published the maritime decarbonisation strategy, which provides the sector with the certainty that it needs to decarbonise. We support the Port of Dover’s plan to electrify short straits crossings, which I know the hon. Member discussed with the Secretary of State in September. Our colleagues in the Depart…”

“The Government are committed to supporting aviation. [Interruption.] We are advancing airport planning decisions, modernising airspace and reviewing the airports national policy statement on Heathrow expansion. [Interruption.] To make sure that this growth is sustainable we have introduced a sustainable aviation fuel m…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Unmanned Aircraft (Offences and Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Butler. The regulations, which were laid in draft before the House on 21 October 2025, set out criminal offences for breaching regulat…”

“I thank the shadow Minister and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for their comments. I also commend the work of businesses in Mid Buckinghamshire constituency, and thank the hon. Gentleman for his support of the draft regulations. I have taken into account both the points raised on regulatory equivalence, and we have …”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Western. The draft regulations were laid before the House on 14 October, and their purpose is to simplify marine equipment legislation by consolidating …”

“I thank the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire and the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage for their contributions to this debate. The hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire said that he supports defending the need to ensure that our regulatory regime in the maritime space is as modern as it can be, both to facilitate UK …”

“Throughout the legislative process, both before and since Brexit, we have always worked hard on a departmental basis to engage with a broad range of stakeholders. We do so through this process as with any other, but if the hon. Member wishes to designate this as a Brexit success, I certainly will not stand in his way. …”

“I thank the official Opposition spokesperson and the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage for their contributions. I will take each of their points in turn. I recognise and agree that we are seeking to avoid excessive revenue and the unfortunate conduct that is perpetrated by some private providers of car parking spaces.…”