Member

My argument stems from the question of whether competition in the provision of railway services serves any purpose at all. I get the impression from having listened to the debates at Second Reading and again today that many Members of your Lordships’ House think, as I do, that there are aspects of railway services that have not been amenable to competition and which have not therefore delivered the objectives that were sought at privatisation. There are, however, others which have been subject to competition, or indeed contestability—if I can extend the concept of competition in this case to contestability through the tender processes of competitive award—where it is clear that competition has in the past delivered these objectives and could form a part of a future policy towards the provision of railway services, and that a mixed economy is potentially desirable.