West Coast mainline report finds 'significant errors' and 'weak governance'

Patrick McLoughlin has read some of the interim findings from the Laidlaw report in to what went wrong with the West Coast mainline bidding process.

"In the limited time available this is necessarily only a preliminary report. What is clear however is that in seeking to run a complex and novel franchising competition process, an accumulation of significant errors, described in the report, resulted in a flawed process.

“These errors appear to have been caused by factors including inadequate planning and preparation, a complex organisational structure and a weak governance and quality assurance framework.

"The full causes and the lessons to be learnt will be addressed in the final report of my independent Inquiry to be published at the end of November.

“Firm judgements should not be made based upon what are provisional findings or wider conclusions drawn at this stage.”