High Speed Rail (West Midlands - Crewe) Bill

As the Secretary of State will be aware, the statement of funding policy that accompanied the las...

If the House does not support the Bill, the Crewe hub and the links to north Wales that it will p...

I thank the Secretary of State for giving way so early in his speech, and I ask him to forgive me...

It is interesting. I have travelled on the Maglev line in development in Japan. It is a project t...

The Secretary of State says this is now about capacity, but please can he not change history? Whe...

My right hon. Friend will know that I have been consistent all the way through in talking about t...

I welcome the Bill, but I note that the Minister referred to connecting the west midlands to HS2....

I did mention the northern powerhouse. In terms of Liverpool, which, as the hon. Lady knows, is a...

If that is the case and Ministers are concerned for the north, why has electrification between ci...

As I have said many times in the House, we are delivering a process of modernisation on the midla...

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way; he is being very generous so early in his...

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. Toton is going to be a fantastic centre in the east...

I strongly support the Bill, and agree with my right hon. Friend’s comments about capacity in our...

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the work that he has done on this project. He has been a very...

Siemens in my constituency has been shortlisted to provide the signalling for HS2, and Chippenham...

My hon. Friend is right, and I am delighted that Siemens has been shortlisted for that work. I wa...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that we have Crossrail as a model? It is being finalised this yea...

Absolutely. Crossrail may be a project for transport in London, but it is also a project for engi...

May I ask my right hon. Friend not to take his eye off a distant ball, which is the future of the...

My hon. Friend is right. As one who has sailed through his local station many times, on Pendolino...

I appreciate what my right hon. Friend is saying today. We have also had many conversations about...

I absolutely give my hon. Friend that assurance. There are processes that we must rightly follow ...

While the Secretary of State is handing out assurances, may I, on behalf of the people of Stoke-o...

As the hon. Gentleman will know—and I have given this assurance to my hon. Friend the Member for ...

I am totally in favour of the project, as train travel is environmentally friendly because it get...

I am very well aware of the potential impact on ancient woodland. We have already made changes to...

I am pleased to stand here today to support a project which was instigated by the last Labour Gov...

The hon. Gentleman talked about HS2 being an integrated network, but one of my criticisms of HS2 ...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, and it is key that HS2 integrates. We ...

I am grateful to the shadow Secretary of State for giving way, and he and I share that view. I ca...

I am grateful for that reassurance in the context of these projects, but I am particularly concer...

Given those circumstances and the pressure on the system, does the hon. Gentleman agree that the ...

I am grateful to the former Minister for his intervention. If he will be patient for just a few m...

I do not want to digress too much, but this is all relevant. We only need an incident on the west...

One of the main points about this project is that it will allow us to build resilience into the n...

I think the hon. Gentleman has wandered into the wrong debate. We are talking about HS2, not abou...

Order. That is a matter for me, actually.

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. The hon. Gentleman will find out what HS2 has to do with the eas...

I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on bringing forward this Bill. I also ...

The former Secretary of State seems to have totally forgotten the 67 miles of HS1 that were elect...

I think that HS1 was operating before Labour came into government.

rose—

If the hon. Gentleman will allow me, I will make some progress.

It is right to say that we ...

The right hon. Gentleman is quite right that we want to speed things up and that the west coast m...

I completely accept that, but the simple fact is that that is one of the reasons for the new line...

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way and for his excellent speech. Does he agree ...

More than £200 million is being spent in Derby on re-signalling and a new platform to ensure that...

My right hon. Friend speaks eloquently about busyness, capacity and bottlenecks on the west coast...

I do not think that that is the case, but there is nobody better than the Secretary of State to a...

The improvement in overall capacity is brilliant for the people we represent in towns such as Red...

My hon. Friend is right that HS2 will free up a lot of capacity that is currently used not for lo...

rose—

I give way for the last time.

I thank the former Secretary of State for giving way. What does he think will be the extra capaci...

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman wants us to have a detailed timetable for 10 years’ time, but extra ca...

As we look at the current Secretary of State for Transport and his predecessors around him on the...

The hon. Gentleman talks about starting the project in Scotland, but that is not a sensible idea ...

The hon. Gentleman knows that I have enjoyed debating with him and that I respect him greatly, bu...

rose—

The hon. Gentleman wants to get in—please do.

It is patently obvious from all the traffic flows and the passenger numbers that as one gets clos...

I wish to remain consensual throughout this debate, but I must point out, once again, that all th...

I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from “That” to the end of the Question and add:

“t...

rose—

I will give way in a moment.

Finally, when they get to St Pancras, they can settle on the t...

rose—

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman who has been trying to get in.

For 15 months, I was a member of the HS2 Bill Committee, and I did that very walk myself. I did n...

But the hon. Gentleman is thin, lithe and athletic. I am talking about a harried husband, a wife,...

May I take my hon. Friend slightly closer to home, not perhaps in his own constituency, but along...

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right about that. I do not think that there is any argument ab...

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. I do not agree with the overall drift of where his s...

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. And that, really, is my main criticism of HS2—that it i...

Twenty-seven?

Twenty-seven, yes. Do not knock that, though. We are talking about ancient trees and woodlands, w...

With regard to broadcasters and where they could be located for their jobs, does my hon. Friend n...

They could be based in Lichfield, yes, or in Birmingham. I hope that Channel 4 will indeed move o...

Shame!

It is a shame, as my right hon. Friend says. I very rarely vote against my own Government, becaus...

I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant). I am not sure if my spe...

I apologise that I could not be here for the beginning of the debate. I fully support my hon. Fri...

I agree, and I will come on to connectivity shortly.

Such short-sightedness would be a huge...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Laura Smith). May I welcome my...

I agree, and I want to see benefits to connectivity in my constituency, including a new station i...

In principle, my hon. Friend makes a very good point and I thank her for her intervention. The pr...

Order. If the hon. Gentleman is referring to the Minister, he must say the Minister, not you. I a...

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. I do apologise; I had noticed that I had written a few...

Perhaps I can help the hon. Gentleman and the House. The word “Minister” is very useful, because ...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. On that point, I will wind up.

I am very supportive of the...

What a pleasure it is to follow the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr Seely). If he will forgive ...

rose—

I give way to my good friend.

Does the hon. Gentleman therefore welcome the £300 million that has been set aside to connect HS2...

I will welcome it when it is built and when we actually have something going. HS3, or Northern Po...

What the hon. Gentleman says about Crewe is absolutely right, but does he understand my disappoin...

I do understand the hon. Gentleman’s disappointment. Actually, I share some of it, and if he bear...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for City of Chester (Christian Matheson) and to contri...

It was certainly my experience with phase 1 that the constant changes of personnel within HS2 Ltd...

Not just people but processes seem to change, and HS2 Ltd is not passing the information on to th...

I do not know whether my hon. Friend agrees with me that, so far, HS2 Ltd’s approach has been to ...

I completely agree with my right hon. Friend. We need to get these things moving. I know resident...

May I begin by making my apologies, Madam Deputy Speaker? I was present for the opening of the de...

I want to make clear straight away, on behalf of my constituents and in the light of my personal ...

I am listening to my hon. Friend with considerable interest. Does he not agree that the saddest t...

I absolutely agree, but unfortunately that advice has not been taken.

Secondly, I have no c...

Does my hon. Friend agree that if the project involved running autonomous passenger and freight v...

That is completely right. It is also perhaps true that travel times were quicker in those days th...

I, too, welcome the Minister to her place. I support the Bill because it brings the potential ben...

I, too, welcome HS2 for the very same reasons. There needs to be investment in the north. What wi...

I agree with the hon. Lady. It would be a grave mistake to have a new high-speed line from London...

I rise to oppose the Second Reading today for reasons very similar to those given by my hon. Frie...

I was in Committee upstairs, and came down particularly to hear the hon. Gentleman’s speech. He k...

I am most grateful to the hon. Gentleman. He is welcome to visit my constituency; we will make an...

Does my hon. Friend agree that this has all the hallmarks of a vanity project and that that is wh...

Well, I am not sure that it is a vanity project because, if constructed, it certainly will bring ...

I do not entirely agree with my hon. Friend that bats have no importance whatever, but I do agree...

I entirely agree. I apologise if I gave the impression that I do not care about bats at all, but ...

Does my hon. Friend recall the impact that this will also have on Yarlet School, which is a very ...

I do indeed. The line goes pretty much straight through Yarlet School, and not only that but thro...

I rarely agree with the hon. Member for Stone (Sir William Cash), but I do in this case, about th...

I largely agree with the hon. Gentleman. I fear that that will be the case unless, as speakers bo...

Order. I remind Members that, as they can see for themselves, seven hon. Members are still seekin...

You will be glad to hear, Mr Speaker, that I intend to speak only briefly, to raise one particula...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Leigh (Jo Platt). I share her pain, because HS2 ph...

In passing, I congratulate the right hon. Lady on becoming a dame. Is it not a fact that she and ...

I am loth to agree with the hon. Gentleman entirely, but I find myself tempted to do so, because ...

Like me, my right hon. Friend has gone through the phase 1 experience—I am, of course, affected b...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. A project of this nature needs to be run in the most professi...

It is an honour to follow the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan). I ...

I completely agree with the hon. Lady about the benefits and how they should be spread across Bir...

I absolutely agree; we need to see more women coming into engineering.

However, one of my c...

As an enthusiastic supporter of improvements to our rail network, I welcome the principle behind ...

It is a pleasure to follow my constituency neighbour, the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (J...

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this important debate, and I commit my support for ...

Is my hon. Friend aware that this is the biggest infrastructure project in Europe?

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, because she reminds me of the significant amount—ab...

My hon. Friend makes a very good argument. Does she agree that this is not just about freeing up ...

I thank my hon. Friend her intervention. I am sure that many of her constituents, like mine, have...

Does my hon. Friend share my passion for the National College for High Speed Rail? It will not on...

My hon. Friend is a great champion of engineering and I have been inspired by what she has done i...

We need engineers to construct the line, but we need them in the supply chain, too. Bombardier’s ...

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. We can all encourage employers to be role models an...

I was until recently the Minister for the Year of Engineering, and I looked at the possibility of...

I thank my right hon. Friend for his work. He is a champion of women not only in engineering, but...

The hon. Lady makes the apt and correct argument that there ought to be opportunities for small a...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. I confess that I am not sure that I entirely followe...

Does my hon. Friend agree that one area that has been neglected in today’s debate is the social a...

My hon. Friend makes an extremely perceptive point and I completely agree with it. My hon. Friend...

Order. I am trying to have the debate at least somewhere in scope, and I am sure the hon. Lady wa...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I apologise for deviating a tiny bit off the track.

As my rig...

I rise to speak in support of the Bill. It is positive that we are debating it and I very much en...

Does my hon. Friend agree that part of the reason why we now face a capacity issue and need to de...

My hon. Friend makes an insightful point. We had decades of decline when the rail industry was in...

Will the hon. Gentleman not concede that that turnaround has taken place on the back of several h...

Well, the hon. Gentleman suggests that even more public money should go in, so I am not sure wher...

We do not want to spend too much time on this issue, but the simple fact is that in the past, whe...

My right hon. Friend is as wise as ever. Not only do we have public money going into our railways...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way; he is being generous. I do not disagree with his argum...

That has been part of the discussion throughout the day. I have to say that I missed some of the ...

I hope the House will forgive me for raising this issue again, but because he has visited the col...

My hon. Friend makes a very interesting point. It was reasonably hard to see that from the projec...

Cutting-edge strategic decisions always bring with them a certain degree of contention, which is ...

My right hon. Friend makes an interesting point. I entirely agree with him. For those who have no...

I would just say in response to the previous intervention that there would have been far fewer pr...

My right hon. Friend makes two points. We have previously discussed the issue of tunnelling in th...

I have listened carefully to today’s debate and thank all hon. Members for their contributions. I...

Does the hon. Lady agree that it was not only the engineers of the Victorian age—great as they we...

We could spend a long time talking about the shenanigans that also took place in this House over ...

I take the point that the hon. Lady is making. However, the KPMG report that looked into the impa...

Of course we are deeply concerned about the economy of south Wales. That is why we electrified th...

The hon. Lady just said that in Committee, we will do such and such. I think she may have misunde...

I thank the hon. Gentleman, but I do understand the process. Petitions will be brought forward, a...

It is with great pleasure that I close the Second Reading debate. This is my first Bill, so there...

Under the current plans, Stoke will be served by just one HS2 train an hour. Will the Minister co...

We are a long way from the timetables, but if the hon. Gentleman will let me continue for a momen...

I am wondering whether we can get some clarity as to when we will get the answer to this consulta...

We are working through the details. We will try and do it as quickly as we can, but it will be sh...

I welcome the passion with which the Minister is approaching her brief, but may I bring her back ...

My right hon. Friend has raised many issues about HS2 Ltd, its relationship with our constituents...

I think I can say this on behalf of all those who are liable to petition in Staffordshire, thus r...

My hon. Friend has been a great champion for his constituents and has made his concerns known to ...

As I intend to vote against Second Reading, for all the reasons I have given, and as that has the...