MINISTERS must “stop pussyfooting around” and strip an under-fire train operator of its contract, the shadow transport secretary has urged.

Andy McDonald described Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) as a “disgraceful company” as he asked what it had to do to lose its contract.

Asking an urgent question on the franchise, he told the Commons: “Enough is enough - the Government must stop pussyfooting around and strip Govia of their contract without delay.”

He said there was “no need” to wait for the findings of a review into timetabling chaos, saying: “It won’t tell us what we don’t know today.

“The Government and rail industry have failed passengers both on GTR and across the North of England.”

Transport minister Jo Johnson said the Department for Transport had started a “hard review” of the franchise to “establish whether GTR have met and continue to meet their contractual obligations in the planning and delivery of the May timetable”.

“As part of this process, we are looking at whether GTR have breached their contracts and we won’t hesitate to take tough action against them if they are found to have been at fault.”

Mr McDonald asked the minister to give the House “advance notice of any cuts to transport investment that he plans to sneak out on the sly before or during the summer recess”.

He also took aim at Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, who was absent from the chamber, saying it was a “shame he hasn’t turned up yet again”.

Mr Johnson said Mr Grayling would have responded to the statement had he not been at the Farnborough Airshow.

The urgent question came after a leading rail workers’ union called for a Government statement on its inquiry into GTR, before Parliament breaks up for the summer recess.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said workers and passengers needed information from Mr Grayling amid ongoing cancellations and delays to GTR services.

Mr Grayling announced in June there would be compensation for commuters and an inquiry into what went wrong with a new timetable launched in May.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “With only a few days to go before MPs say goodbye to Westminster until September, it is imperative the Secretary of State comes to the House of Commons and explains what he is proposing to do about the delays, cancellations and chronic overcrowding on this basket case franchise.

“If he fails to do so it will be crystal clear that he is allowing GTR to normalise poor performance under the cover of emergency timetables.

“Passengers and staff alike will be rightly angry if the Government make yet another effort to boot the Govia Thameslink scandal into the long grass as they head off for the sunbeds.”

The London Assembly Transport Committee has written a “highly critical” letter to Mr Grayling, questioning why it has taken almost two months to announce a passenger compensation package.

It calls on the Department for Transport (DfT) to establish a quicker process for any future episodes of major, prolonged disruption.

Caroline Pidgeon, who chairs the committee, said: “The chaos that unfolded after the introduction of the new rail timetable is proof that not enough people in the rail industry were willing to speak up and admit that the changes were simply not going to work.

“How were so many warning signs ignored by so many people?”

Lillian Greenwood, Labour chairwoman of the Transport Select Committee, asked in the Commons later: “How long is the Department for Transport prepared to prolong the ridiculous situation in which the only available option to stabilise things is to cancel more trains, causing more pain to passengers paying very handsomely for GTR’s so-called service?

“If the minister won’t step in to take direct and effective action to put things right, isn’t this franchise effectively unfit for purpose and doesn’t it demonstrate the department’s total inability to act in the best interests of passengers?”

Liberal Democrat former minister Tom Brake said: “Isn’t it time for a performance monitoring system for ministers so they can be sacked if they don’t perform?”

Conservative former minister Tim Loughton added: “What exactly will it take from the Glaister review that thousands of our constituents are not telling us every single day about this shambles to get this franchise removed once and for all as soon as possible?”

Labour MP Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) highlighted financial woes for his constituents as a result of cancellations, adding: “GTR will forever be remembered as the great train robbery.”