Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Brian H. Donohoe(12 years, 10 months ago)
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Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
The Secretary of State will no doubt have seen the reports in yesterday’s newspapers about Willie Walsh of British Airways having suggested that as a consequence of the fact that a third runway will not be built in the south-east at Heathrow, he will increase BA’s business in Madrid. Is that not rather ironic?
Mr Philip Hammond
I am pleased to see that British Airways, along with BAA, now accepts the finality of the coalition Government’s decision that we will not allow the building of a third runway at Heathrow airport. However, that is not the end of the matter. We have to provide for aviation growth in the south-east of England, and in the UK as a whole, in order to meet the needs of a growing economy in future. That is why we have launched a scoping document and will bring forward a new sustainable aviation policy by the end of next year.
Winter Weather
Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Brian H. Donohoe(13 years, 4 months ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
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Mr Hammond
My hon. Friend is of course right. The Highways Agency has invested more than £100 million in new equipment for dealing with snow on the strategic highway network, as well as building a large strategic reserve of salt and grit. As I said earlier, clearly the question is not whether we can eliminate disruption when we get such snowfall in the UK. There will always be disruption. The question is whether there are sensible and proportionate measures that we could and should take which will minimise that disruption.
Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
Further to the question from the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone), may I turn the Minister’s attention to the airports? The airports in the south-east are closed today, yet the public are given no information about the alternatives. The airport authorities knew a week ago that the present weather conditions would happen. Why are we in such a situation in the south-east of England?
Mr Hammond
The hon. Gentleman says that the airports in the south of England are closed, but as of a few minutes ago, when I came into the Chamber, that was not my information. My information was that Gatwick was closed, but Heathrow was operating, albeit with delays. The problem, as the hon. Gentleman knows, is that airports have to operate with a primary focus on safety, and when heavy snow is falling it is not possible to operate the runways safely. I gave the figures earlier for the amount of clearance that occurred at Gatwick yesterday. Vast amounts of snow were moved off the runways and taxiways, but the airport is still not able to operate. If there is any measure that could or should have been taken over the past few days that would have kept Gatwick airport open, that is what we need to focus on, but even Geneva airport has been closed this week.
Transport (Investment)
Debate between Lord Hammond of Runnymede and Brian H. Donohoe(13 years, 6 months ago)
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Mr Brian H. Donohoe (Central Ayrshire) (Lab)
In reassessing the M54-M6 toll road, will the Secretary of State take into account travel times? Over the years, travel times between London and Scotland have seemed to be increasing. Will he take that factor into account?
Mr Hammond
Travel times and potential journey savings are one of the key factors that the current model takes into account. The M54-M6 toll link is in the group of schemes that will be reassessed, because the Department needs to reassure itself that the value-for-money case for the scheme still applies.