Extending the contract of under-fire rail operator Avanti West Coast was the right decision, but the company still has "a long way to go", an MP has said.

The firm was given a six-month extension by the government last week despite calls for it to be stripped of the franchise after a raft of problems.

John Stevenson, MP for Carlisle and chairman of the West Coast Main Line All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), said the firm was making progress.

The contract will run until 15 October.

Its previous six-month deal - granted by the Department for Transport last October - was due to finish at the end of this month.

Avanti, which runs trains to Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, north Wales, Glasgow and Edinburgh, had been told to make urgent improvements after it slashed its timetable last summer when drivers stopped doing overtime and passengers suffered widespread disruption.

Conservative Mr Stevenson told the BBC's Politics North programme the firm had "got a grilling from MPs across the spectrum about the services they provided" when questioned by the APPG last year.

"They said they had a new programme starting in December, they said there would be improvements and we are starting to see some, but there is a long way to go.

"I think the government's approach, broadly, is right - give them an extension for six months and see if the improvements happen.

"If they don't then I think there'd be serious concerns and we'd have to revisit it."