Member

At the moment, given that the private operators have only short-term contracts, only a fraction of the full liabilities is counted in the national accounts. However, if all operators are permanently within the public sector—that is what is proposed—meaning longer rolling stock leases, this could add billions of liabilities to public sector net debt. The integration of track and train within a single entity, as set out clearly in Labour’s Getting Britain Moving document, will mean that GBR will fail the ONS market body test, meaning that its liabilities will be consolidated into the DfT’s accounts. If GBR’s accounts are fully consolidated, much as National Rail’s are, this means that ordering and leasing new trains would create an increased liability that would immediately appear on the Government’s balance sheet, increasing national debt, even if the money to manufacture the trains was coming from the roscos and raised on the capital markets. So we are back to where I was when I was Transport Secretary, competing against other demands—new hospitals, new schools and the rest.