HS2: Revised Timetable and Budget

Debate between Baroness Winterton of Doncaster and Huw Merriman

Tuesday 14th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I am not sure there was a question there.

[Huw Merriman]

I think I got the gist, Madam Deputy Speaker. The reality is that the control period will see more than £40 billion spent on renewals across England and Wales, but, as I said earlier, Scotland has to find that funding for itself, and that is where the Barnett consequentials come in. There are no plans in the foreseeable future to change the manner in which we fund the network in the way that the hon. Gentleman described.

Rail Cancellations and Service Levels

Debate between Baroness Winterton of Doncaster and Huw Merriman

Thursday 1st December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman]

My right hon. Friend makes a great bid that is linked into this matter. I am happy to meet him and my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) to discuss that further. He is absolutely right that we see a knock-on effect. Take Northern, for example. It has been less impacted by the matters I have referenced than TPE and Avanti, but the knock-on from those operators—particularly TPE—has caused it to fall in parts as well. He is absolutely right to point out that contagion can pass from one part of the network to another. I will happily meet him.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I call the SNP spokesperson.

Doncaster Sheffield Airport

Debate between Baroness Winterton of Doncaster and Huw Merriman

Monday 24th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I call the Chair of the Transport Committee, Huw Merriman.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

This issue also came up in the Transport Committee session with the Secretary of State. We asked her whether there would be any intervention. She made it clear that it would not be financial, but that all technical assistance would be offered in the hope that there would be a solution similar to that for Teesside International Airport, where the Mayor of the Tees Valley found a solution.

Rail Strikes

Debate between Baroness Winterton of Doncaster and Huw Merriman

Wednesday 15th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. Interventions do need to be short and not directly addressing the hon. Member.

[Huw Merriman]

Following your lead, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will just give one example: cracks to rail. Technology now allows a sensor camera underneath a train to click 70,000 images per minute. That replaces an individual’s eyes or teams of men tracking. I would maintain that that not only makes it more likely that the cracks will be spotted, but means it is not necessary to put people on the asset, which is dangerous to them and means closures that we do not need when the train is operating.

This is not rocket science related specifically to the rail industry. Every single industry innovates, moves forward and develops. This Chamber may seem a funny place to stand and say that working practices are rooted in the past, when this very place is all about that, but the way we speak and operate here does not necessarily impact the lives or enhance the passenger services that I believe we could do in rail, if the industry as a whole, working with the workforce, developed and innovated in the manner I advocate.

I come back to the point about collaboratively working together. It is essential. I saw to my cost, as an MP in the region that includes Southern Railway, damaging strikes that went on for far too long. Passengers could not get to work; it had a huge impact on the economic community and on the workforce. The crazy thing about that strike, which was about who opened the doors, the guard or the driver, was that it ended up being settled with a pay rise for drivers. Ironically, that was on the ASLEF side; the RMT side, which started this, did not get that pay rise. The ASLEF drivers got a pay rise of 25% over three years.

I would say to those on the Front Bench: “Of course take leadership, make that noise, but you have to ensure that you see this through.” There is nothing worse than starting this action, causing industrial relations to decline, and then finding out that we withdraw; it would be better not to do it at all.

--- Later in debate ---

[Huw Merriman]

I will take one last intervention and that is it.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

Order. I should perhaps explain that if two interventions are taken there is extra time, but after that there is not, so I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman has run out of time.

International Travel

Debate between Baroness Winterton of Doncaster and Huw Merriman

Tuesday 15th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I call the Chair of the Transport Committee, Huw Merriman.

[Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was beginning to wonder which statement I had walked in on. Let us return to the theme of international travel, not least because thousands of people have worked in that industry over the past two years and have suffered greatly. It would be respectful of this place to focus on them, rather than on some of the wider issues that have just been brought up.

I warmly welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement. Over the past two years I know that he has battled hard to support this sector. These are the last barriers to be removed, and I hope the industry will now be ready for lift off. Border Force resources will be required once capacity increases in the summer. Will he do everything in his power, working with the Home Secretary, to ensure that we have everybody we need at the airports? I used the airport at the weekend. Border Force was fantastic and really efficient, but as numbers upscale, so must it upscale.

[Grant Shapps]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Ensuring that Border Force and its resources are in the right place will be important, especially when our airports get busier again. I will certainly undertake to speak to my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary about those provisions. It might interest the House to know that with e-gates, not having to check a separate database for the passenger locator form—that was automatically carried out by e-gates, using both software and hardware—saves up to six seconds per passenger coming through. That should also help to relieve some of the queueing.

Serious Violence

Debate between Baroness Winterton of Doncaster and Huw Merriman

Wednesday 15th May 2019 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I was not making a party political point. My point was that we do not need to be party political because the figures have fluctuated under different approaches. I think that perhaps the shadow Home Secretary is confused about my point.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

That is not a point of order. I think the hon. Gentleman will try to catch my eye later and he could deal with the point during the debate. I really do not like points of order in the middle of debates—they just disrupt the proceedings. We are having a serious debate, so let us get on with it.

Services for People with Autism

Debate between Baroness Winterton of Doncaster and Huw Merriman

Thursday 21st March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Huw Merriman]

Thank you for chairing us this afternoon, Madam Deputy Speaker.

I have heard it said that Parliament is not delivering for the people. May I send a message and invite everybody here to join me in sending a message to people with autism or Asperger’s and their families? With the voices of my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan), the hon. Member for Bristol West (Thangam Debbonaire), my hon. Friend the Member for North Cornwall (Scott Mann), the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Stephen Twigg), my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley South (Mike Wood), the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), my hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Anne-Marie Trevelyan), the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan), my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (John Howell), the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), my hon. Friends the Members for Torbay (Kevin Foster) and for Copeland (Trudy Harrison), the hon. Members for Glasgow East (David Linden) and for Dewsbury (Paula Sherriff), my hon. Friend the Minister for Care—I thank the Minister for all her commitments this afternoon—and the many others who intervened, the message is that we understand the challenges autistic people have to go through every day, and we will be by your side and will do our best to make sure that you have the services you deserve.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered services for people with autism.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I am sure that the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Dame Cheryl Gillan) would have been very proud of all the contributions to the debate today, and I hope that the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman) will send her our best wishes.