High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill

David Mowat Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Gillan]

Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker.

[David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

[Mrs Gillan]

Yes, of course.

[David Mowat]

If it were true that better infrastructure for the north would suck the lifeblood out of the region, would it not be right to close the M6? Perhaps that strategy would make the north really prosperous.

[Mrs Gillan]

I am not going to dignify that intervention with an answer.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Goodwill]

Indeed, that will increase choice for people who have the unfortunate experience in life of having to live in the south-east of England. It will give them more opportunities to visit the north and use airports up and down the country.

We need to ensure that we maximise the cumulative benefit of individual investments by ensuring they are all properly connected. I have to say that amendments 18 and 19 in the name of my right hon. Friend the Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan) slightly confuse me. Amendment 19 seeks to limit expenditure to projects under phases 1 and 2 of the Bill, which finishes in Leeds and Manchester, but amendment 18 says that there should be more connectivity in Scotland. There is a degree of contradiction in those two amendments.

[David Mowat]

My hon. Friend has just said that phase 2 finishes in Manchester, which indeed it does as far as the business case and the benefits statement KPMG produced are concerned, yet under phase 2 we are building a 40 km spur north of Manchester. I wonder about the logic of that, since there is a £1 billion cost with no benefit. Is that an under-run that the Minister could book at this point?