Rail Minister Claire Perry has admitted she has repeatedly thought about quitting over the failures of Southern Rail - but believes it would not help.

The Tory frontbencher said she would be "falling on my sword" if she thought it would resolve the difficulties faced by commuters.

Ms Perry added the current situation "feels like a failure" although she insisted stripping Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) of the franchise would not make Southern's problems disappear and "do almost nothing".

News Shopper: Claire Perry

Rail Minister Claire Perry

Her defence of the Government's response came after Tory former minister Tim Loughton urged the minister to "get a grip" with the operator, which continues to struggle despite cutting 341 trains a day.

Southern began using a reduced timetable on Monday, claiming the interim move was aimed at making services more "resilient".

It blames service failures on high levels of staff sickness as well as industrial action by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union prompted by a dispute over the role of conductors.

MPs used a Westminster Hall debate to pressure Ms Perry over the continued problems with the service, and renew calls for GTR to be stripped of the franchise.

In her reply, Ms Perry said: "I've been asked repeatedly why don't we just take the franchise back - and the reason is I can't.

"It's not in breach of a franchise contract right now."

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Ms Perry added: "We have a contractual structure, there are a series of inputs and outputs, the company is not in breach of those."

Ms Perry said she wants to bring compensation plans forward for passengers while also speeding up the devolution of train services to City Hall in London.

She said: " I want to bring compensation plans forward - it involves a negotiation with other parts of Government given this is revenue that's coming into the Government coffers but I'm very keen to deliver compensation."

Opening the debate, Mr Loughton told MPs that Southern's performance and punctuality figures show 23 per cent of services under the revised timetable were late or cancelled on Tuesday.

Mr Loughton also mocked the company by suggesting it should run no trains to ensure it has a 100 per cent record in completing its timetable.

He said the existing problems were a "national disgrace for Britain's largest rail passenger carrier".

He requested that GTR is stripped of the franchise by the end of 2016 if it fails to sort the issues before the beginning of September.

Tory MP Nusrat Ghani added: "One of my constituents is so late picking up their child from nursery that they're worried the standard procedure for most nurseries is to contact social services when parents are late.

"This is damaging people's lives."