Highways (Financing) Bill (Fifth sitting)

Alison Griffiths Excerpts

Thursday 12th November 2026 Public Bill Committees

[Justin Madders]

I am grateful to the shadow Minister for reminding us all of Denis Norden and “It’ll be Alright on the Night”. I am not sure I can give him that level of wisdom today, but I will attempt to answer his questions.

The shadow Minister has of course correctly predicted that we will not be accepting the amendment. I hope he is going to give us the lottery numbers for Saturday night as well—his powers of prediction are very strong; he may even anticipate what I am going to say. The amendment would force the ORR to publish a tolling code in the abstract before the Act has commenced and therefore before the licensing authority could actually consult on the licence, which is required under clause 4 of the Bill. That could slow down or delay the delivery of the lower Thames crossing.

The tolling code will set out the principles and constraints that the licence holder must follow when proposing, setting and implementing tolls.

[Alison Griffiths (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)]

The Minister is describing the process he wishes to take place. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Buckinghamshire made an important point about principles. Surely the Minister and the Government know the principles they wish to deploy in the collection of tolls. That should be something he can explain here today.

[Justin Madders]

If the hon. Lady shows a little patience, I shall hopefully do that for her. The important thing in terms of the Government principles is the guidance from the Secretary of State. That guidance will specify to the ORR the various parameters, and the ORR must have due regard to that guidance. It is clear, from what I have said, that we intend to include something on local discounts in the guidance. Ultimately, we would want that to be reflected in the tolling code published by the ORR. Of course, the ORR is independent and therefore the exact content of the code will be up to it.

As I was saying, the tolling code will set out the principles. It will include requirements around how the tolling regime is structured. It will also cover how final charges are published and communicated to users, alongside governance arrangements, including consultation. As I have said, in making its code, the ORR will have due regard to guidance set by the Department and the Secretary of State. The details of the code are ultimately up to the ORR, and it is necessarily dependent on any guidance provided by the Government and the specific arrangements set out in the licence.

--- Later in debate ---

[Olly Glover]

We could no doubt carry on and have an interesting discussion about economic theory and behavioural incentives, but I gently suggest that the principle is the same. Amendment 52 could encourage every private operator automatically to set their penalty charge at £100 rather than £10, £25 or £50, in the hope of making more money. I feel that the argument made by the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton is relevant to this, but I will leave it there and allow the Conservatives to address that further.

[Alison Griffiths]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Olly Glover]

I have concluded.

--- Later in debate ---

[Greg Smith]

My hon. Friend strengthens the argument considerably. It all comes back to this point of proportionality and fairness, and the system that most of us—certainly the vast majority of our constituents—thought we were operating under already, which such intrusive powers would drive a coach and horses through.

[Alison Griffiths]

To build on the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South just made, by putting such equipment into vehicles, we are exponentially increasing the cyber-threat and the attack surface for state actors to come in and paralyse not just our state but our communities.

[Greg Smith]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. However, given the number of vehicles on our roads that have been so heavily subsidised by the Chinese state, I suspect that horse has already bolted.

If I may briefly speak to amendment 88 in the name of the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage, without stealing his thunder—