Transport Secretary Stephen Byers was today facing fresh calls to quit.

The Conservatives will demand his resignation during a Commons debate on his handling of the Railtrack fiasco.

The Tories will highlight what they describe as "discrepancies" between Mr Byers' account of events and those given by Railtrack chiefs and the rail regulator Tom Winsor.

They will argue the decision to put Railtrack into administration without compensating shareholders will make it harder for British companies to secure investors.

Mr Byers has denied threatening to use emergency legislation to prevent Mr Winsor's attempts to bail Railtrack out.

The Tories will argue the Government was steering Railtrack into insolvency and had made the decision to take it out of private hands months ago.

November 13, 2001 11:30