Berwick MP aims to deliver on promise of A1 dualling in Northumberland

The Secretary of State for Transport made the point in her speech at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.

Ms Trevelyan was elected to Parliament in 2015, largely on the back of a 2014 government promise to spent £290m on dualling 13 miles of the route between Morpeth and Ellingham.

Earlier this year, former Transport Secretary Grant Shapps put off a final decision until December but since Ms Trevelyan’s appointment as his successor the project has been included in a list of infrastructure projects the Government wants to ‘accelerate’.

Ms Trevelyan said: “Growth is key to delivering jobs, higher wages and more money to invest in world class public services.

“A key part of achieving that growth is keeping our promises and delivering for the people.

“Speaking as the Member of Parliament who has campaigned for dualling the A1 – a road improvement first promised in 1992 - and was elected on that promise, delivering on our promises is firmly on my mind.”

She also spoke of the ‘elephant in the room’ of the on-going rail dispute and strikes.

“My message to the trade union membership is simple,” she said. “Please take your seats at the negotiating table and let’s find a landing zone which we can all work with.

“Punishing passengers and inflicting damage on our economy by striking is not the answer.

“There is a deal to be done between the unions and our train operators. It’s a deal that will require compromise. So I want to see positive proposals to bridge the differences.”

Ms Trevelyan also revealed she is seeking consultations on reforming ticket office provision across the country.

She explained: “Online shopping is increasingly the norm.

“We’re seeing the same trend on the railways with a huge increase in online ticket sales – today, only 12% of transactions take place at ticket offices.

"We need to be looking at ways to move with the trend and support our customers in the most effective way possible.

“There will be some stations where the ticket office will be important to the running of the station. In other areas rail employees may be better in front of the glass helping passengers in other ways.

“This is not about cutting jobs – this is about putting the passenger at the heart of the railway.”

However, her ticket office stance dismayed Cllr Georgina Hill, Independent member for Berwick East on Northumberland County Council.

Last November, Ms Trevelyan held talks with LNER and tried to persuade them not to reduce the opening hours at Berwick station’s ticket office.

However, the hours were significantly reduced and there are fears that the ticket office may close altogether.

Cllr Hill said: “This is another Tory u-turn. Last November, our MP supported the campaign against a reduction in the hours at Berwick ticket office. Now she tells the Tory conference that she is all for it and somehow thinks this will benefit customers.

"While you may predict a continuing, gradual reduction in the requirement for manned ticket offices - the rail operators are cutting the hours too far and too fast.

"It is disappointing that we don’t have the support of our local MP in this who is obviously in a position of considerable influence as Transport Secretary.”

Cllr Hill is due to meet with rail operators later this week over fears that they plan to close the Berwick ticket office altogether.