A flood of new MPs are heading to Westminster for their first week in the job. But many are finding that a familiar old problem stands in the way of their plans.
One of Greater Manchester’s new MPs was among several newly elected Labor MPs to criticize the reliability of train services as they left for London this morning (July 8), ahead of their first day in the House of Commons tomorrow. Kirith Entwistle is the new Labor MP for Bolton North East.
She shared a picture from Bolton station at X at 9.36am and wrote: “Day 1 and my train to Manchester to get to London is cancelled. Great start!”
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Both the 9.21am and 9.58am services from Bolton to Manchester, operated by Northern, have been canceled this morning. Nor was Ms Entwistle the only MP affected by the disruption to Northern trains.
Across the Greater Manchester border, new Calder Valley MP Josh Fenton-Glynn shared a picture from Hebden Bridge station in West Yorkshire with the caption: ‘On the way to London! I am so excited to begin the journey to be a voice in Westminster for the Calder Valley communities I love.”
Eight minutes later he added: “In news that will shock absolutely no one, my @northernassist train is delayed.” Labor won a landslide victory in last week’s general election, ending 14 years of Conservative-led government.
The party has pledged to transfer each rail franchise to public ownership once existing private contracts expire. However, Northern has been publicly operated since March 2020, when the Department for Transport’s operator of last resort took over the franchise.
Northern says the disruption comes after a “higher rate” of staff sickness than usual and ongoing industrial action. Craig Harrop, regional director for the North in the North West, said: “We apologize to all customers who were affected by the service cancellations yesterday and this morning.
“Our operational colleagues are working hard to keep journey planners up to date. We are very proactive in managing increased staff sickness and on Sundays when crews volunteer to work more hours, we have seen a reduction in train staff available on parts of the network.
“Furthermore, the ongoing industrial relations issues have their own impact. We are working hard with our colleagues and other train operators to improve service reliability.”
Meanwhile, other new MPs have turned their anger towards Avanti West Coast, which operates services between the North West and London. Paul Foster, MP for South Ribble, Lancashire, wrote: “First day on the road to parliament and guess what… @AvantiWestCoast go and cancel my train just as I get to Preston station. To make matters worse the train is actually pulling to the station!
He posted an image of a departure board showing the cancellation of the 6am train to London Euston. Another disgruntled Avanti West Coast passenger was Claire Hughes, MP for Bangor Aberconwy, North Wales, who wrote: “In news that will shock absolutely no one, my @AvantiWestCoast train to London for my first day at Westminster has been cancelled.”
Andrew Ranger, who was elected to represent Wrexham in North Wales, replied: “That’ll be my train too! Well, we’ve got one more thing to add to the list of things to deal with. #avantifail.”
During the election campaign, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said that – if Labor won – the party would urgently consider stripping Avanti of its West Coast contract because of its “deplorable service” on the West Coast Main Line. An Avanti West Coast spokesman said: “We apologize for any inconvenience caused to our customers when some of our train services were canceled today.”