 Before the review took place however, newly-installed Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin scrapped the entire bidding process for the franchise and granted Virgin an extension to its contract when "severe technical flaws" were discovered in the original bidding competition.The Government has moved towards allowing more competition on the intercity network through open access operators.In 2015 it approved a service run by Alliance Rail Holdings to operate between London Euston and Blackpool, and in 2016 it allowed FirstGroup to run open access services on the East Coast Main Line from 2021 under the operating name East Coast Trains.