Member

This is, of course, completely contrary to everything one knows about competition. It is contrary to the experience in other countries; it has been seen that open access has actually allowed fares to come down. The European Union claims they have come down by 28% in the best case studies it has examined. I think I referred to that at Second Reading—it may have been on Monday, but I have certainly referred to that report. There has been a 28% reduction in fares, better-quality services and the driving up of demand. Overall, it is a win for everybody, although not necessarily in all cases a win for the state operator. If the state operator is to make the decision—and this is why it is so important to know whether it will be Great British Railways or the ORR—the argument from abstraction is always going to point the dial towards “no” rather than “yes”. So the amount of open access to be allowed is likely to be very limited, despite passenger benefits in terms of fares, service and frequency that might accrue from it.