Huw has been a member of the committee for five years and replaces Lilian Greenwood who steps down after two. He secured 50% of the vote in a secret ballot of MPs, beating three other candidates to the post.

“It’s important that all forms of transport are scrutinised as we can do better,” said Huw, who added that he does not believe the sector currently delivers value across the UK. “A lack of competition, accountability and responsibility causes our constituents to received poor service and provision.”

He added: “I’ll be seeking ideas for inquiries from across the House but in particular, I would like to look at long term transport projects such as HS2 and Heathrow, consider the environmental, economic and community costs and forensically probe the performance of Government departments, agencies and industry.”

Huw Merriman is the MP for Bexhill & Battle and the first Conservative chair of the Transport Select Committee for 23 years. Prior to Lilian Greenwood, the committee was chaired by Louise Ellman (2008 - 2017) and Gwyneth Dunwoody (1997 - 2008).

In recent years Huw has campaigned for local authorities to be given more powers to tackle parking on footways in town centres and for better local rail service provision. For his local constituents, he supports the introduction of high speed trains between London and Bexhill, via Ashford.

Sue Percy CBE, Chief Executive, CIHT said:

"CIHT has always maintained a good relationship with the TSC and we look forward to working with the new chair and the other members of the Transport Select Committee on future enquiries"

Please see here for examples of CIHT recent interaction with the Transport Select Committee