Eurostar is not the UK Government’s company to rescue, Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps told Transport Select Committee MPs today (February 3).
Responding to a question about the beleaguered cross-Channel operator, during an evidence session on Responsibilities of the Secretary of State, Shapps declared: “Eurostar is a majority French state-owned company. We are obviously interested and concerned, particularly about jobs.
“Primarily it is French-led. We’ll be as helpful as we can, but it is a French company. We are very, very keen for Eurostar to service, but it has SNCF behind it.”
Asked if the UK Government was prepared to let Eurostar ‘go to the wall’, Shapps said: “The physical nature of the Tunnel wouldn’t disappear, or the infrastructure, so there are well-established routes for these things. So I can repeat what I said - it’s not our company to rescue.”
- For the latest on Eurostar, read RAIL 924, published on February 10, and available digitally from February 6.
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Tony Porch - 05/02/2021 12:39
Once again this terrible Tory government has only one thing on its mind and that's to eradicate all our connections to the EU. Rather foolish and backward step and will undermine their so called "global Britain" agenda!
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