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Mary Creagh MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, in a speech to Labour’s Conference 2014 in Manchester, said:

Conference it’s great to be in Manchester. A city transformed under a Labour council and a Labour government.

This building, a former railway station, is a reminder of this city’s proud transport history.

Today I will set out how Ed Miliband’s Labour government will deliver the big change we need in transport.

Big change to deliver our national infrastructure.

Big change to tackle the cost of transport and to give London-style transport powers to other areas.

Big change to make our roads safer.

I want to thank my team in the Commons, Richard Burden, Lilian Greenwood, Gordon Marsden, and in the Lords, Bryan Davies, Richard Rosser and Denis Tunnicliffe.

This government has neglected our national infrastructure.

More airport capacity is vital to Britain’s economic success, but David Cameron was too weak to deliver it. So he kicked it into the long grass.

That led to Boris Johnson’s fantasy island airport.

Do you remember?

The one that would have closed Heathrow, destroyed jobs and put London at risk of flooding.

Five million pounds of public money wasted on his vanity project, but it was never about the country’s future.

It was all about the future of the new Tory candidate for Uxbridge.

The next Labour Government will make a swift decision on airport expansion in the national interest.

Labour supports High Speed Two which will transform our country.

The costs are significant, we must keep them under control, and there is no blank cheque for this or any other infrastructure project, but the benefits will be great.

HS2 will connect our cities, rebalance the economy and create new skilled jobs and apprenticeships in every nation and region of the UK.

It will create new railway capacity to tackle overcrowding on commuter services and get freight off roads and onto rail.

David Cameron didn’t even bother voting for it.

He was in Parliament but he was busy fighting off yet another rebellion from his Eurosceptic MPs.

A Labour government will deliver big change to end the cycle of stop and start on national infrastructure projects.

I want to turn to the big change we need in our public transport.

Buses are the lifelines of our cities, towns and villages.

Two thirds of all journeys on public transport are on buses, yet they have become a Cinderella service.

Bus services cut.

Fares up by an inflation-busting 25 per cent since 2010.

Passenger numbers down outside London.

People unable to get to work.

The young, the poor, the disabled and the elderly - cut off from normal life.

That must change.

So Labour will support any city that wants London-style buses and smart, integrated tickets to have them.

I want to pay tribute to the combined authorities in the North East and West Yorkshire, who have spent the past four years trying to achieve better buses through a Quality Contract.

I wish them luck.

And in government they will have my full support.

We need big change on our railway.

Commuters have been hit hard by a twenty per cent increase in ticket prices in four years.

The rail minister says people are paying for comfortable commuting.

But sixty five of her sixty seven journeys to parliament last year were - you’ve guessed it - in her car.

A season ticket from Milton Keynes to London cost three thousand eight hundred pounds in 2010.

Next year, that same ticket will cost nearly four thousand nine hundred pounds.

Next year, I think those commuters will be voting for Andrew Pakes to be Labour’s new MP for Milton Keynes South.

The West Coast franchising fiasco cost taxpayers fifty million pounds.

That incompetence led to a series of franchise extensions.

And it’s passengers who are paying the price.

If you thought rail fares only went up in January, think again.

Two weeks ago, Labour uncovered secret rail fare rises on the Northern Rail franchise.

The government introduced an evening peak fare hitting students, and part time workers the hardest.

Their choice?

Pay more, up to 160 per cent more, for a peaktime ticket.

Or wait until after 6.30 and travel home in the dark.

And Ministers did it again on the Brighton Mainline last week.

Secret fare rises for First Capital Connect passengers, from Croydon to Three Bridges to Brighton.

That’s no way to run a railway.

The franchising fiasco is leading to a fight by train companies over carriages.

Next May, nine trains from the overcrowded Transpennine Express routes, that serve the North, will go down to Chiltern Railways.

That’s no way to run a railway.

Today we have Directly Operated Railways running the East Coast.

This not-for-profit company will have returned over one billion pounds to the public purse by next March.

Why is our British “Directly Operated Railways” the only rail company in the world banned from bidding to run East Coast services?

That’s no way to run a railway.

Rail electrification.

The government’s flagship project: budget blown and under review.

That means delays to the whole project, and more misery for commuters in Reading, Swindon, Exeter and Plymouth.

They need a railway that can withstand the extreme weather that climate change brings.

The contracts for new Thameslink trains delayed.

Ministers talk about rail services in the North.

Those same ministers are proposing to cut direct rail services from Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Dewsbury to Manchester.

Friends, we need big change to the way we run the railway.

A Labour government will deliver the biggest reform of the railways since privatisation to deliver a better deal for taxpayers and passengers.

We will bring Network Rail and a new passenger rail body together to coordinate track and train operations, and look after passengers.

We will tackle the monopoly market for rail rolling stock.

We will cap fares, legislate to allow a public sector operator to be able to take on lines and challenge the train operators on a level playing field and devolve decisions on rail services much closer to communities.

We will put the passenger back at the heart of the railway, not the profit motive.

The Labour Party is the only party that will deliver the big changes to public transport that our cities and communities need.

Transport is for people, giving them freedom.

Every journey matters.

We deserve to travel safely at all times but this government scrapped Labour’s road safety targets.

And increased the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles on single track roads - which will lead to more deaths.

Potholes and congestion causing misery for motorists.

Road schemes scrapped and delayed.

Labour wants walking and cycling and public transport to be attractive options.

Long before lycra and bike helmets, everyone use to cycle.

I want every child to have the chance to learn to ride a bike safely.

And we want to see more people commuting to work by bike, too.

That’s why the next Labour government will ensure that all heavy goods vehicles are fitted with safety devices to protect pedestrians and cyclists.

The current taxi licensing system is not protecting passengers.

Yet, right now, the government is deregulating the taxi and minicab trade.

Increasing the risks to vulnerable women.

We want them to take the taxi clauses out of the Deregulation bill and work with us to take the rogues off the road.

Conference transport delivers not just economic prosperity but also social justice.

Opposition has sharpened not dulled our ambition.

Only a Labour government will make the big change we need to deliver the infrastructure to support British jobs and growth

Only a Labour government will make the big change to give cities the powers to bring back the buses and create a railway that puts passengers before profit.

Only a Labour government will make the big change to tackle the cost of living crisis, reduce road congestion, and give everyone the freedom to travel safely.

Thank you.

Ends