Queen’s Speech

Lord Haselhurst Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Haselhurst (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I add my congratulations to the noble Lords, Lord Coaker and Lord Morse. I thought their maiden speeches were admirable.

In view of what we have just heard from the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, I feel it necessary to go down a rather different path. The Government are commendably engaged in levelling up, with emphasis on the north and the Midlands. There is no question that these parts of the country need jobs and houses. In such a large-scale exercise, a vast and efficient train network is essential. To my mind, HS2 is a vital part of that if we are to transform in an upward direction the economies in parts of the country that have lagged behind.

Furthermore, the Government should put it beyond doubt that HS2 phase 2b will proceed. The east Midlands not having the benefits of the West Midlands and east of the Pennines not having the benefits of west of the Pennines is unthinkable. The noble Lord, Lord Snape, said he thought the Treasury had severe doubts, but perhaps he should remember that part of the Treasury being moved up to the north-east might bring about a change of opinion.

In terms of better rail services, it should not be forgotten that levelling up is long overdue in parts of the south and east. I point to the Anglian region—reminding your Lordships of my interest as chair of the West Anglia Taskforce—where the east coast ports have a great strategic significance for our country. The freight conveyed from them, largely by rail, needs to be assisted by increasing the capacity of the Ely junction, a proposal which I think is subject to public inquiry at the moment. The West Anglia Main Line is only a two-track railway, its third and fourth tracks having been removed after the recommendations of Lord Beeching some 60 years ago. That two-track railway has to support increased frequency in north-east London, the needs of Stansted Airport—the third London airport—and the expanding biomedical campus at Cambridge. Not all these things can be done on a two-track system in a way that satisfies any of the customers.

Liverpool Street station, which is the London central terminus for the West Anglia line, is an admirable Victorian structure but has very little scope to become a modern railway station meeting the needs of passengers, and it is now severely congested. There is now the possibility—or has been the possibility—that Stratford might also be a destination for trains on the West Anglia line. But the only space left that could possibly accommodate an extra platform at Stratford is more likely to be used, I am told, as an entertainment venue. The congestion already on the line makes it very difficult to encourage freight to be taken on the West Anglia line and off the roads which, otherwise, it has to use.

I look forward to learning how the promised railway White Paper assesses these and all the many other competing demands that I know exist. I suggest it might be helpful to have a clear, visible and comprehensive rail plan to take us forward, setting out all desirable improvements, what each might achieve and at what cost. It might also show how an entire project could be divided into sequential sections, some of which might attract local authority and private sector development. My hope is for nothing less than a railway revolution that will help to galvanise our economic regeneration throughout the country.