Motion to approve the Deal between the Department for Transport and Deutsche Bahn AG

This House Recognises that

(1) Arriva plc has been put up for sale by Deutsche Bahn AG as a part of the latter’s intention to raise capital for investment into the domestic German railway network;

(2) Arriva plc is one of the largest public transport companies in the United Kingdom with some ten thousand employees as of today;

(3) Greater control over the public transport sector is necessary as the sector faces significant reform and expansion over the coming decades.

As such, this House approves the deal to purchase Arriva plc.

This Motion was written by The Most Hon. Dame Ina LG LT LP LD GCMG DBE CT CVO MP MSP MS MLA FRS on behalf of His Majesty’s 34th Government.

Deputy Speaker,

As members of this House will no doubt have read in the press during the closure of this House, this government has agreed to a deal with Deutsche Bahn in a deal to bring Arriva into public hands. I have heard some complaints as to this step being taken to make a statement to the press, and find the argument rather weak: would the members opposite have preferred for this to be kept a secret for a week just for us to drop this motion without any warning? I do not think that would be very fair to the Opposition. I will digress from this tangent, however.

Deputy Speaker, I am immensely proud to stand here today with a deal to bring Arriva into public ownership. It is a truly British company, with it and its predecessors operating in Britain for nearly a hundred years, but it is an international one too, being one of the main providers of public transport services in over a dozen countries across the European Union and beyond. As this government lays out the details of the Local Transport Bill 2023, it will become clear to all in this house that Arriva shall play a role in the renewed system, though the details shall be left to a later date when this bill is ready to be introduced to Parliament.

The acquisition of Arriva Europe as a subsidiary of Arriva plc is something else that will lead to more details down the line, but I can say that we will be required to continue operating the concessions granted to Arriva for the coming decade or so, depending on the length of the concession in each region. This means that British Rail will finally have an international subsidiary which can bring in additional revenues for the whole of the system, but the details of the system will be announced in a statement down the line, hopefully before Christmas. Until then, Arriva will continue operations as a subsidiary of British Rail. I shall now give the House a chance for questioning.

This division will end on Saturday 4 November 2023 at 10PM GMT.