Martin pressed the Prime Minister in the House of Commons today, calling for the urgent restoration of a direct rail link connecting northern Lincolnshire with London.
During the exchange, Martin highlighted the disparity in current regional rail connections: while northern Lincolnshire benefits from an hourly service to Manchester, passengers heading to the capital still face no direct route. Pointing out that he and the Father of the House, Sir Edward Leigh, have campaigned for this connection for 15 years, Martin urged the Prime Minister to secure an early win for the area and review the case with the Transport Secretary.
In response, Prime Minister Andy Burnham acknowledged the long-standing connectivity problems facing northern Lincolnshire, reflecting on his previous work as chair of the Rail North Committee. He reiterated that delivering public benefit and connecting every community to economic opportunity is central to bringing railways under public control.
Significantly, the Prime Minister offered to arrange a formal meeting between Martin and the policy team at Number 10 North to directly present the constituency's case for the service.
You can read the full exchange below.
Martin Vickers MP (Brigg and Immingham):
"Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. We in northern Lincolnshire, Prime Minister, look forward to your first visit in your new position. You will find that if you travel by train from Manchester, there is an hourly service, but if you travel from London, there is no direct service.
My honourable friend the Father of the House and I have been campaigning to restore the direct service for 15 years. If he could give an early win, it would be victory for me in 15 years, but he could deliver it in 15 weeks. Could he have a word with the Transport Secretary to have yet another look at providing this service, which I know will be supported by his PPS behind him?"
The Prime Minister (Andy Burnham):
"Yes, I’ve only been back in this House, Madam Deputy Speaker, and already my PPS is lobbying me from behind, which is helpful. But he’s right to do so, and he’s right to raise it.
I remember as chair of the Rail North Committee in my previous role the concern of people in his part of the world—the rail connections to my part of the North are nowhere near what they should be. But can I say, if he’s interested, I will fix a meeting for him with the team at Number 10 North so that he can put his case.
This is why we took public control of the railways, so that we can start to put services back. There’s no point in having public control if it doesn’t deliver public benefit. And in my view, every area needs a basic level of connectivity if we’re to connect people to opportunity and get growth going in every postcode."
