Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Justine Greening

Thursday 28th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

2. What recent assessment she has made of airport capacity in the south-east; and if she will make a statement.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Justine Greening)]

It will be quite a job to follow the Minister’s last remark.

UK Aviation Forecasts 2011 provides an assessment of how demand for air travel in the UK is expected to change in the future. We will shortly launch a call for evidence to look at how we can tackle that challenge of emerging demand. Let us be clear, however: the coalition agreement stands. This Government cancelled the last Government’s plans for a third runway, and we will be sticking to that.

[Angie Bray]

I thank the Secretary of State for that answer, and I know my constituents will be grateful, too. Does she also agree that talk about expanding Heathrow so it becomes a competitive international hub is wildly misplaced? A third runway would fill up almost at once—and where would a fourth runway go, unless we were to look at possibly knocking down parts of Hounslow and Staines, which I am sure would be entirely unacceptable?

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend raises some of the very difficult issues we have already run up against with Heathrow as a hub airport. She also points out that these discussions and decisions matter massively to residents on the ground, and she is right that the question is not just about a third runway at Heathrow—about which we have been very clear—because expanding that airport further would pose significant challenges to local communities, which should be taken extremely seriously.

High-speed Rail

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Justine Greening

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

It is fair to say that our focus must be on making sure that the Y network and, in particular at this point, phase 1 of that network happens. I am happy to discuss with the Scottish Government their proposals and ideas for how we broaden that network further in the future.

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

I very much welcome the statement, particularly confirmation that the station at Heathrow will go through in phase 2. Does the Secretary of State agree that when phase 2 is completed and there is a direct link from the north to Heathrow, that should make a significant contribution to reducing the pressure of domestic flights at Heathrow?

[Justine Greening]

I agree with that. We have estimated that around 4.5 million air flights a year will transfer on to high-speed rail as a result of this.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baroness Bray of Coln and Justine Greening

Tuesday 8th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

8. What recent estimate he has made of the level of Government debt.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Justine Greening)]

Public sector net debt doubled in the decade from 2000-01. By the end of last year, it stood at £900 billion. Servicing it costs the taxpayer £120 million every day.

[Angie Bray]

I thank my hon. Friend for that answer. As I am sure she is aware, a debt of some £37,000 hangs over the head of every voter in my constituency of Ealing Central and Acton, thanks to the Labour party. Can she reassure us that there will be no deviation from the path, regardless of siren calls, of getting rid of the deficit as soon as possible, so that this country can move forward to prosperity once again?

[Justine Greening]

Yes, I can, and of course my hon. Friend is not the only person to hold that view. The secretary-general of the OECD said only last week that Britain needed to “stay the course”. He realises, as did the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King when he talked about our deficit as being “clearly unsustainable”, that if we had not set out a credible plan and got a grip on our public finances to tackle the deficit, we would have run the risk of an even sharper fiscal tightening later down the road, a loss of confidence and higher interest rates in future.