The Labour party has called for an investigation into disclosures that the civil servant who awarded Southern its rail franchise did so while owning a large share in a consultancy that had been advising the troubled operator’s parent company.
Andy McDonald, the shadow transport secretary, said the disclosures by the Guardian exposed “the murky world of rail franchising” and he pressed for an investigation by the head of the civil service.
“It is clear that the relationship between the Department for Transport, private companies who profit from our railways, and lobbying and consultancy firms is uncomfortably close,” he said.
McDonald’s call for an investigation centres on Peter Wilkinson, who had been hired by the Department for Transport (DfT) to be its franchising director.
Wilkinson was involved in awarding the Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern franchises to Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) in May 2014.
For 20 months after he was recruited to the department, he was a director and the joint main shareholder of First Class Partnerships (FCP), a transport consultancy he had been managing since 2002. He was employed by the DfT as a contractor under an agreement with FCP.
Govia had been a longstanding client of First Class Partnerships and had been paying it for advice six months before the franchise was awarded.
Whitehall documents show the DfT eventually concluded that Wilkinson had a clear conflict of interest between his shares in FCP and his government work, as the arrangement in which he had been seconded from FCP “feels very uncomfortable”.
McDonald said: “For complete transparency, it is essential that the secretary of state [for transport] refers these allegations to the head of the civil service so they can be investigated.
“Without a full and open investigation that addresses these alleged conflicts of interest in the awarding of the GTR franchise and other franchises, suspicions will remain about how these rail contracts are awarded.
“Passengers, taxpayers and stakeholders need answers if they are to have any confidence in our railways and how they are being run.”
Referring to Wilkinson, Louise Ellman, the Labour chair of the House of Commons transport select committee, said: “There are unanswered questions about his role at the department.”
The DfT has said that while Wilkinson worked as its interim franchising director between January 2013 and October 2014, there were strict procedures to prevent conflicts of interest, while FCP also implemented measures to ensure any conflicts of interest were avoided.
In a statement, a DfT spokesperson said: “The department regularly contracts and recruits people with relevant industry and commercial expertise, to help it achieve the best result for passengers and taxpayers. We have robust safeguards to guard against any conflicts of interest.
“Decisions on franchise awards are taken by the department following a fair and open competition. Each franchise award is subject to thorough and independent audit.”
Since November 2014, Wilkinson has been the DfT’s managing director of rail passenger services on an annual salary of £265,000.
Trade unions allege he is “the hatchet man” driving the Southern rail dispute, after he told a public meeting that he and others wanted to “break” train drivers.
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