North Wales Main Line rail operator Avanti West Coast may soon lose its franchise if services don’t improve.

Raising Avanti’s performance in Parliament, MP Liz Saville Roberts called on the Secretary of State for Transport to address the consistent cancellations affecting commuters and north Wales’ local economy.

Avanti West Coast’s North Wales-London route tops the service cancellation table with on-the-day cancellations for north Wales recorded at 20 per cent earlier this year, the highest across the network.

Secretary of State for Transport Louise Haigh MP said that if Avanti West Coast defaults on its improvement plan it will be immediately brought into public ownership. The current franchise runs until 2026.

In the House of Commons, Mrs Saville Roberts said Avanti’s timetable is yet to return to pre-Covid standards, and there were no direct connections with London on 9 November.

Ms Haigh said: “My views on Avanti’s performance are well known, I think. The right hon. Lady is right that it has not been acceptable.

“Shockingly, the way that national rail contracts were written under the previous government means Avanti has not defaulted.

“It is on a remedial plan to drive improvements, and we have seen a small increase in punctuality, but it still has a long way to go.

“We are watching Avanti like a hawk to make sure that if it does default, it can be immediately brought into public ownership.”

Avanti MD Andy Mellors said: “I came into this role in March of last year, and one of the things I was really clear about was that we needed to regain the trust and confidence of customers and stakeholders.

“What we’ve done over the last 12 months in terms of building back the timetable, running extra services and delivering improvements in punctuality and reliability, has really supported that.

“We are making progress. There’s still more to do, but we continue to keep that laser focus on delivering the best possible service we can for customers and communities.”

Avanti’s new Evero trains will be rolled out further next month, which is part of their commitment to raising the bar.