WATCH: Shapps hails “light at the end of the tunnel” for reopening international travel

The Transport Secretary also predicted a post-Brexit boom, “if we use these new freedoms wisely, if we think and act like more of an up-start nation”.

Johnson and the railways. Is he ready for pay as you go – and the end of the season ticket? And are passengers?

He plans to bring in a Fat Controller – as he seeks to balance the public interest with private sector freedom. This is the second piece in our rail mini-series.

New event: ‘Back to Business – reopening international travel’, with Grant Shapps

The Transport Secretary joins a distinguished panel to explore this crucial question on Tuesday 20th April.

Andy Street: The BBC’s Birmingham plans represent a cultural levelling up that this country needs

There are very, very few shows where you can see life here on your screens, or hear our accents.

George Freeman: The industrial strategy reforms I led helped to deliver Britain’s vaccine success. Now for the next phase.

I’m delighted to have been asked to help set up the new Taskforce for Innovation and Growth through Regulatory Reform.

Shapps has spotted a once-in-a-lifetime chance to give Britain world-class railways

The Transport Secretary has set up a reform committee which is getting ready to use the pandemic to rout the Luddites in the rail unions.

George Bathurst: Nationalisation should be a stepping stone to a better private railway network

John Major’s efforts in the Nineties, part-reversed by Blair, seem almost designed to give the market a bad name. There is an alternative.

Iain Dale: I’m assertive. You’re a bully. Discuss.

Let’s say that Patel did, on occasion, shout – or lose her temper. Should that really be deemed unacceptable?

The real question isn’t which airport we build, but how to get better at building anything

If there’s one thing which ought to unite even the most passionate partisans of the different proposals, it’s the abject state of British decision-making on infrastructure.

Allrik Birch: We need private firms to re-build our rail network

The era of government-run railway infrastructure has been, for the most part, one of decline and a clear lack of ambition.

WATCH: Transport Secretary – “We will make a go, no go decision by the end of the year”

Shapps sets a tight deadline for his independent review into High Speed Two.

WATCH: ‘Anything is possible’ – Shapps on whether High Speed Two could be abandoned

The Transport Secretary this week ordered an independent commission to assess the railway’s costs and benefits.

Johnson won’t scrap HS2, but his review could make a big offer to the North

Building the northern sections first could provide a springboard for further projects and combat the idea that the former Mayor of London is too capital-focused.

Sponsored Post: Darren Caplan: Plea to the Government – please reveal your proposals to enhance the UK’s railways

A lack of information about upcoming work, reduces rail businesses’ investment, jobs, and skills development, and threatens the ability of smaller rail firms to survive.

WATCH: Corbyn presses May on Brexit preparations at PMQs

The Labour leader leads with the collapse of the Government’s contract with Seaborne Freight.