NORTHWICH MP Mike Amesbury has said the failings of Northern Rail are ‘causing chaos’ in his constituency during a debate in Parliament.

The Weaver Vale MP recently backed calls for a probe into the rail operator after criticising the franchise holder for ‘continually failing to deliver on its promises’.

And in Parliament on Wednesday, he again blasted the operator following a string of delays and cancellations, as well as the implementation of a new timetable.

He also called for full renationalisation.

Speaking in the chamber during a debate about the East Coast Mainline, which the Government announced this week would itself be nationalised after Virgin and Stagecoach announced they could not make payments, he said: “Surely the way forward in this debate is what works.

“In the past 14 days alone Northern Rail has cancelled 1,159 trains - full cancellations. It is complete chaos in my constituency. That demonstrates that the current franchise system is not working. We need public ownership and public control.”

Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng replied: “Everyone in this Chamber realises that the franchise system is not perfect, and I freely admit that. However, compared with what was operating before under the nationalised system, we have seen massive improvement in terms of investment and a doubling of passenger journeys since 1995.”

But speaking outside the chamber, Mike added: “The Government are ideologically wedded to the idea of ‘private sector knows best’, but we’ve seen even recently with the East Coast Mainline, collapse of Carillion and the ongoing problems with the University of Chester Academies Trust – which has left a school in my constituency in a dire situation – that vital public services such as these simply should not be run by the private sector.”

David Brown, managing director of Northern, released a statement saying that customers 'deserve better'.

He said: “We are doing everything we can to minimise cancellations and delays and keep our customers informed.

"It has been difficult for many of our customers, in particular on a number of routes around north Manchester extending up to Blackpool, and we are very sorry for this.

“We are introducing 1,300 new train services a week, and fitting in these and other train companies’ services has meant that we have had to change 90 per cent of our timetabled trains. This is the biggest modernisation that the Northern railway has had for generations.

“The new timetable was planned and delivered in four months compared to the normal nine to 12 months because a key improvement – electrification of the Manchester-Bolton line – has been delayed and this meant rewriting our plan and then training drivers at the last minute.

“We know the situation isn’t good enough and for that we are truly sorry. We‘re implementing actions that we have agreed with the Department for Transport. Our customers deserve better and that’s what we’re focused on delivering.”