UK TRAIN MANUFACTURING

That this House welcomes the announcement by the Secretary of State for Transport that in order to ease congestion 1,300 extra rail units will be introduced onto the UK rail network; notes that in addition the High Speed Train replacement programme is anticipated to see between 500 and 2,000 new vehicles; believes that this represents an excellent opportunity to revitalise the UK train manufacturing and maintenance sector; further notes the progressive procurement policy already adopted in the Ministry of Defence which sets out the UK's procurement needs in advance and recognises the importance of Britain's defence manufacturing strategy; supports the view of the TUC and rail unions that the UK should support similar policies for the procurement of UK train manufacturing; and therefore calls on the Government to promote a public procurement policy which safeguards train manufacturing jobs and skills and recognises the importance of UK train manufacturing capacity.