Merriman’s full head of steam has no answer for rail omnishambles

Urgent questions were once rare and precious events in Parliament – imagine a sighting of the Flying Scotsman roaring up the East Coast in a halo of steam. Nowadays, UQS positively spill out of the Speaker’s Office, pouring off like commuters at rush hour with all the inevitability of Avanti announcing a replacement bus service.

Yet yesterday came one with a purpose; the rail omni-shambles. Louise Haigh, shadow transport minister, delivered her statement pointedly, but in a restrained style that proved more effective than a full-blown rant: 40 services cancelled on Transpennine Express alone, major timetable changes, overcrowding.

The drama on the opposition benches came from elsewhere. Alongside Haigh, Angela Rayner and Thangam Debbonaire glowered like a brace of Cruella De Vils. “Shameful,” they yelped, as Haigh brought up shareholder dividends.

Answering today was Huw Merriman, a freshfaced junior transport minister. Merriman may not exactly have lived up to his name, but as he stood up to field the inevitable wagonload of disobliging questions – 45 minutes of them, to be precise – he radiated a workmanlike authority and calm confidence.

Shades of the junior ticket collector stepping up to do the onboard announcements in his boss’s absence: “We shall shortly be arriving into major industrial action... See it. Say it. Sorted.”

His opening gambit was straight out of the traditional politicians’ playbook: “A good question. I’m glad you asked me that.” On this occasion, he effusively thanked the Honourable Lady for giving us “the opportunity to set out our disappointment”.

Rather than trying to defend the state of the network, Merriman cunningly agreed with Haigh’s analysis, stating in placatory style that he agreed “enough was enough”. He even tried to enlist opposition support for the collaborative process, calling on Labour to “work with us to influence the unions”. Good luck with that.

As the questions broadened out, the debate took on the feel of a group therapy session.

‘We shall shortly be arriving into major industrial action. See it. Say it. Sorted’

Backbenchers from all sides sought to out-do each other. “It’s not a seven-day-a-week service,” snapped Holly Lynch of Halifax. “It’s not an ‘any day of the week’ service!”. Don’t forget the hard-working commuters of Southend West and Leighon-sea, warned Anna Firth. But in the world of customer service, the consumer is always right and for the client-facing junior minister, that means the MPS. Again and again, Merriman shared their concerns and promised to sit down with any and every Honourable Member to discuss them; enough diary dates to fill 2023 and 2024 into the bargain.

As damage-limitation operations go, this was a fine outing from Merriman, though he’s perhaps not the bruiser we need to take on Mick Lynch and the RMT.