Lewes MP Norman Baker today challenged Gordon Brown at Prime Minister's Question Time to help secure the reopening of the railway line between Lewes and Uckfield.
He told the Commons: "The Prime Minister, as a Scottish MP, will be aware of the huge success of the recently reopened railway line between Stirling and Alloa, where passenger numbers are already three times the level of what was projected for 2011, and a similar success story applies with the reopened line to Ebbw Vale in Wales. Why does it make good economic sense to reopen lines in Scotland and Wales, but not in England, where the Department for Transport is resisting any reopenings, despite the clear social and environmental benefits that lines like the one between Lewes and Uckfield offer?"
In his response, the Prime Minister referred to the investment the government was making, but notably failed to answer the question asked.
Norman Baker adds: "I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the negativity of the Department for Transport, which refuses to recognise that there are now more rail passengers travelling each year than ever before, on a network about the half the size it was post-war, and react accordingly. Clearly we need more capacity on the network, and that must include reopening stations and sections of line that in most cases should never have been shut. Lewes-Uckfield is clearly one of those."
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