Railways: Brighton to London Line

Debate between Lord Dholakia and Earl Attlee

Thursday 6th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, it is great that there are local initiatives to reopen lines—to make my department think carefully about that—but there has to be a good business case.

[Lord Dholakia]

My Lords, does the Minister accept that Gatwick Airport is a very popular destination for those travelling between London and Brighton? The number of passengers has increased. Secondly, does not the maximum use of the line between Victoria and Brighton demonstrate the need to preserve an alternative method, especially when this expansion of the Brighton line is exhausted?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I fully accept that the Brighton line is running at capacity, but this particular scheme will do nothing to relieve the bottleneck. For instance, the path between Sevenoaks and Orpington is just twin track and there are no more train paths available at the peak period.

Identity Documents Bill

Debate between Lord Dholakia and Earl Attlee

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Earl Attlee]

I think that it is appropriate for the Minister to carry on with the rest of her speech, answer the other questions that noble Lords have asked and wait to see whether further inspiration arrives.

[Lord Dholakia]

My Lords, may I make a suggestion? Would it not be appropriate for the House to adjourn to enable the Minister to seek the advice that is being asked for and then the House could resume soon after that?

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, my noble friend has numerous points to answer. Let us hear what she says and whether she can convince the House to agree with another place.

Severe Winter Weather

Debate between Lord Dholakia and Earl Attlee

Monday 20th December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dholakia]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement in your Lordships’ House. I stress how important it is to take note of the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Oldham. The problem that we suffer is a lack of communication. To anybody who listened to the Radio 4 interviews with passengers at Heathrow and Gatwick, the information that was repeatedly conveyed was that none of them knew what was going on.

A few weeks ago, at the beginning of the month, we had similar snowfall and people are really tired of not knowing how our rail network is working in this country. At Victoria Station, it was obvious that none of the indicators was working and the announcements were almost impossible to decipher. Whenever one got the idea that a train was leaving, one jumped into that train, sat for half an hour and was then told that the train was no longer going. One moved on to another train, only to be told that the driver was no longer available. One then moved on to another train where they said it would be another half an hour. By the time one gets home, it has taken three or three and a half hours to travel a distance of 15 miles.

This just will not do. It is time that those in authority provided adequate information to those who use services. That has not happened at Heathrow, it does not happen at many of our stations and it is about time that this matter is put right.

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I am grateful for my noble friend’s comments. Ministers were not happy about the situation on communicating the transport opportunities to people two weeks ago. It is inconceivable that these problems will not be considered in the new year.

Intelligence and Security Services: Treatment of Detainees

Debate between Lord Dholakia and Earl Attlee

Tuesday 6th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dholakia]

My Lords—

[Earl Attlee]

My Lords, I think that we should hear from the Cross Benches—or, rather, the Lib Dems first.

[Lord Dholakia]

My Lords, I join my noble friend the Leader of the House in paying tribute to those who have lost their lives in recent days in Afghanistan. The torture allegation has been a shameful episode for the good name of our country and we welcome this inquiry. I hope that it will be able to look at why this has taken such a long time and that it will question the previous Administration about why the inquiry was not held much earlier. We are aware of the constraints placed on the coalition Government, as a number of outstanding issues need to be resolved, but I have two questions for the Minister. First, does the payment of compensation before the inquiry has reported compromise it in any way? Secondly, the Statement mentions our co-operation on intelligence matters with other countries, particularly the USA. Would it be possible for the inquiry to take evidence from those countries that are involved in the torture allegations?