Local Transport Bill [Lords]

I welcome the Bill. My constituency contains a metropolitan authority, and I have some interest in transport because I am one of the few Members, if not the only Member, who used to be a bus driver. I drove a bus for three years before entering the House. However, I appreciate that the Bill is not just about buses. I was very saddened by the speech of the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs. Villiers). I have done quite a lot of work with the hon. Lady on Finance Bills. We have worked on two or three so far, and she has shown herself to be thoughtful and well prepared. However, most—although not all—of her speech today revealed that the Conservative party's transport policy, particularly on public transport, is an absolute shambles. The hon. Lady said that the higher patronage of London buses had much more to do with subsidies than with regulation. Nevertheless, perhaps understandably, she would not commit her party to increased subsidies in metropolitan districts such as mine in the west midlands, where subsidies are far lower than in London—unfairly, I must tell Ministers. That represents a contradiction in the Conservative party's policy. Another contradiction is that the hon. Lady said that she wanted competition laws to be amended so that discussions could take place between operators on co-ordination—I stress that she was not suggesting the introduction of cartels—although the Conservative amendment seeks"““free competition between bus operators””." The hon. Lady said that voluntary arrangements were preferable to statutory ones, and that because many voluntary arrangements around the country were working well, we did not need statutory arrangements for quality contracts and so on. At the same time, however, she readily agreed—I think that the facts are blindingly obvious to all of us—that bus patronage outside London, particularly in the metropolitan areas, had fallen. That is a third contradiction. A key factor on which I think there is general agreement among Labour Members, although apparently there is none on the Conservative Front Bench, is that regulation has been a major factor in increasing bus patronage in London, although it is not the only factor. I readily concede to the hon. Lady and her party that the increased subsidies in London have been helpful, which is why I would like them to operate in my metropolitan area in the west midlands and other metropolitan areas. She said that she preferred voluntary arrangements to statutory ones, but as patronage has fallen outside London, the availability of voluntary contracts has clearly not worked very well in the rest of the country.