Westminster diary: Train hopes & fears, plus holiday lets campaign update

The disruption to trains across the North of England and South of Scotland in recent months was firmly on the agenda in parliament this week.

Official figures for July to September show just 38.8% of Avanti West Coast trains ran on time, and just 55.8% for TransPennine Express.

This is largely separate from the nationwide strikes.

Those two operators have blamed several issues, including drivers no longer agreeing to work overtime, and how they could do limited training during the pandemic.

Senior figures from both companies were questioned by the Transport Committee on Wednesday morning.

Both apologised to passengers and referred to the new timetables introduced last Sunday (11 December).

TransPennine Express managing director Matthew Golton admitted it wasn't a quick fix, saying: "we are very, very clear that what we have to do over the next few months is get this timetable performing more reliably and make a significant inroad into the number of cancellations."

Richard Scott from Avanti West Coast was more confident things had already turned around, saying their new timetable "came into being on Sunday as we promised. That is a 40% uplift in services."

Lord McLoughlin, chair of Transport for the North, told the committee that this week's industrial action meant it was too soon to judge the success of the new timetables.

On Wednesday lunchtime at Prime Minister's Questions, Carlisle Conservative MP John Stevenson bemoaned the disruption on the west coast mainline, and asked: "If Avanti does not get its act together, will the government cancel its franchise?"

Rishi Sunak said: "Our immediate priority is to support the restoration of services before making any long-term decisions on the operation of the west coast franchise, but we will be closely monitoring Avanti’s roll-out of its recovery plan and holding it to account for delivering for passengers."

In October, the government extended Avanti's contract for just six months, so the question of who runs the west coast franchise will need to be resolved in the spring.

More MPs criticised performance on the west coast mainline during a debate in the House of Commons on Thursday.

Rail Minister Huw Merriman said: "I am determined to play my part. I expect Avanti, the unions and everyone connected to join with me and ensure that this line delivers once again."

Finally, in a statement on Thursday afternoon, the five Labour mayors from across the North of England focused on TransPennine Express, saying: "they should be given until February to improve, or else the government should find an alternative operator to take over the franchise."

They warned: "we do not have confidence that this disastrous situation for passengers and the northern economy will improve without firmer government intervention."

Westmorland & Lonsdale Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron was celebrating what he sees as a step forward on a long-running campaign on Tuesday.His amendment to the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill to give councils new powers to restrict second homes was voted down by Conservative MPs.But he asked during the debate: "Is it now the government’s intention to make short-term lets a separate category of planning use following the consultation?"Housing & Planning Minister Lucy Frazer responded: "We propose to consult on that early in the new year. Following that consultation, of course we hope to bring in some legislation, if that is the result of that consultation."Mr Farron said afterwards: "I’m glad to see finally some movement from the government on changing planning law to restrict the worrying trend of people being evicted from their home so their landlord can make a bigger profit by putting their property on Airbnb."

Tuesday is the House of Commons' last day before Christmas, and it's Wednesday for the Lords.

Both return on Monday 9 January.