Great Western Railway Routes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Transportation
Claire Louise Perry (Conservative, Centre-right): I will follow your excellent advice, Mr Deputy Speaker My hon. Friend the Member for Newton Abbot (Anne Marie Morris) made possibly one of the most impassioned speeches we have heard in the House, drawing attention to the value of this investment and what it does for the region. As for the hon. Member for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies), who made a powerful speech about the extension of the line to Swansea, I am very sad that he will—potentially—leave us in May. I hope that it has nothing to do with anyone whom he nominated for the Labour party leadership; it would be awful to think that he was disappearing on that basis. He will be much missed by many Members on both sides of the House. I have asked my hon. Friend the Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Alun Cairns), the Under-Secretary of State for Wales, if he will meet the hon. Gentleman, as a matter of urgency, to discuss the important infrastructure issues that he raised My hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Oliver Colvile) was, I believe, the only Member who mentioned the vital role of freight on the railways, and he was very clear about his priorities for the constituency. I am delighted that the Laira depot, which I have visited, is being retained, because of the important jobs that it brings, although I was disappointed that he did not mention hedgehogs once. I had hoped to hear a plea for a hedgehog crossing My hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Peter Heaton-Jones)—whom I have enjoyed meeting many times, along with Mr Mike Day—raised the possible opportunities on the Tarka line, which are fantastic. My door is open, and I am happy to give further consideration to his proposals The right hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart), who is no longer in the Chamber—I think that she had to leave early—is another passionate campaigner for rail. Her constituency will, of course benefit from the Government’s record investment in the railway, and particularly in Crossrail. I take her point about the Heathrow spur. However, she accused my Department of having tunnel vision. Far from it: we are multi-tasking on a daily basis. We are delivering the electrification of the midland main line, the Great Western main line electrification—about which I shall say more shortly—the multi-billion-pound Thameslink programme, and Crossrail. We are delivering £38 billion of investment on the country’s railways. That is the biggest investment programme since Victorian times. However, one of the lessons that we have painfully learnt is that if we are committing money, it must be spent wisely. The hon. Lady was right to raise the Heathrow issue, and it will be delivered, but it is a question of appropriate sequencing My hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Johnny Mercer)—who is not a trainspotter, I gather—made a powerful point about the regional need for transport investment to drive entrepreneurial growth. He made the important point, which was received rather churlishly by Labour Members, that private sector economic growth drives the best improvement in life chances, particularly in a disadvantaged constituency. I was disappointed by Labour Members’ reaction to that.