Politics UK

At my request, the Department for Transport is going to convene an inquiry into the Colwich incident. The inquiry will be headed by Baron Marsh, Minister for Transport under the Wilson Government and head of the British Rail Board from 1971-76. The Civil Service advises me that the inquiry will take over a year, but this should provide us with a thorough investigation on the causes of this accident so that we can prevent a repeat incident from occurring.

Mister Speaker,

I wholeheartedly support this enquiry and hope that some light will be shed on this terrible disaster. My heartfelt condolences go out to the victims and their families at this hard time.

Does the Secretary have any clue at all as to the basic reason as to why this train derailed?

Mr. Speaker

As a cabinet minister, I appreciate the amount of work which went into launching this enquiry and know the passion in government to try and correct these problems from occuring in the future. I fully support the Chancellor in his launching of this investigation and support our government 100% in hoping this inquiry, will help us to prevent such appaling incidents from occuring in the future.

I know that this government will work tirelessly to do all we can to ensure a repeat doesnt occur of this incident, which indeed the general public will expect of their government.

Mr. Speaker,

I entirely support this inquiry. We give our sympathy to all of those who have been affected by this tragedy, and we hope that it will never happen again.

Mr. Speaker,

I am sure all MPs on both sides of the house fully support this inquiry. We must uncover the cause of this terrible tragedy and ensure it never happens again.

Could the Minister inform the House of the scope of this investigate? Is it simply the direct events in this tragedy or does it have the freedom to look deeper into safety issues on our rail network?

Mr. Speaker,

I rise to support this move by the Transpot Secretary. I know that all members of this House were deeply shocked and saddened to hear of this incident and particularly the resultant deaths and injuries. It is only sensible that an inquiry be convened and I sincerely hope that when the findings are the reported the government will make the necessary changes to avoid another tragedy like this.

Mr. Speaker,

I wish to simply commend the Chancellor for his excellent work on this matter and all the others in which he has worked. He has proven himself diligent and committed to the issues most important to the British public.

Mr Speaker,

This review is vital so we can identify and mitigate any risks we have to our rail networks.

I would like to second the call of the Member for Rotherham. What is the scope of this review? And what powers will Baron Marsh have to assist him in the review?