Transport Infrastructure

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Chris Bryant

Tuesday 17th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

What I am seeing, and what I see nearly everywhere I go, is a strong lobbying exercise, or representation exercise, on behalf of Birmingham airport, and rightly so because it is a very good airport—I like it and use it regularly. What Birmingham has already done, through its expansion and extending the runway, means that it will be able to offer lots more services to the people of the west midlands, and I very much hope to take advantage of that.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

Will most ordinary people listening to this debate not conclude that a politician who cannot make a decision is no more use than a chocolate teapot? If we are going to keep on procrastinating and if the Government cannot even decide that Boris island is not going to float, they have run out of steam.

[Mr McLoughlin]

Coming from somebody who was 13 years in a Government who refused to make—[Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman was 13 years in Parliament supporting a Government—avidly, on every occasion—who continually failed to take any decisions about major infrastructure projects, yet he now complains that this Government, who have made more progress on the railways and on aviation, are somehow slacking in making their decision.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Chris Bryant

Thursday 18th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I take that as a bid, and it is one that I will look at in more detail. I am sure that I will hear much more about it from my hon. Friend.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

We in the south Wales valleys are delighted that those lines are to be electrified, but can the Secretary of State tell us when that work will start and how much faster journey times between Treherbert, Llwynypia and Cardiff will be? If he is unable to pronounce those place names or tell us today, will he please write to me?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan) for managing to get electrification for Wales into the original programme, and I am very glad that that is something that this Government will—

[Chris Bryant]

I welcomed it.

[Mr McLoughlin]

I know that the hon. Gentleman welcomed it. I am glad that this Government will give us something that he never managed to achieve when he was in government. I think that it will start in 2015.

Rail Fares

Debate between Lord McLoughlin and Chris Bryant

Wednesday 5th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick McLoughlin)]

Before I address the motion, I would just like to tell the House what a great honour and privilege it is to return to the Dispatch Box in a proper speaking role after some 18 years, although I have to say to the hon. Member for Garston and Halewood (Maria Eagle) that I had not expected to be making my first speech as Transport Secretary quite so soon. When the Opposition Chief Whip informed me on Monday evening that there was to be a transport debate today, I thought that this would be either an opportunity or a great problem. I shall not decide which until I have sat down. I thank the hon. Lady for her warm welcome. I shall certainly consider some of the points that she raised in her speech, but I might need to take a little more time to do that, rather than responding to them all immediately this afternoon.

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am going to regret this!

[Chris Bryant]

I, too, congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his new post. As he knows, I have always thought of him as the General von Klinkerhoffen of the Government—but only in that he is much nicer than his party allegiance. May I add one thing to the list of things he should worry about? It is that we often think of commuters as wealthy people going from the commuter districts outside London to their jobs in banks, yet many in my constituency are people who are on the minimum wage. For them, the £5.10 or £5.20 a day that it would cost them to go to work can sometimes be prohibitive. Will he work closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that such people have a real opportunity to work?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I well accept that a lot of people who commute are on very low wages, and that their transport costs account for a very large part of their income. We do need to bear that in mind. The hon. Gentleman is, however, supporting a motion today that would remove the flexibility of the rail companies to adjust rail fares, which is something that the Welsh Assembly—which his own party runs—is not prepared to do.