Business of the House

Jason McCartney Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir George Young]

Of course Treasury Ministers care about the hon. Lady’s constituents. The Chancellor of the Exchequer will be at this Dispatch Box in a few moments’ time. Rather than waiting for a debate, if she lets me have her constituent’s details I will see that the appropriate Treasury Minister gets on to the case. If there is an injustice and money is being wrongly withdrawn from an account, we will see that it is stopped straight away.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

The Government are investing heavily in rail infrastructure across the north, with the electrification of the trans-Pennine route. The big decision is coming up on the funding of the northern hub rail investment programme, which would stimulate 20,000 to 30,000 jobs across the north. May we have yet another debate on the fully funded northern hub project, focusing in particular on the support that the scheme is getting from local enterprise partnerships and the private sector?

[Sir George Young]

That is an important project. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport spoke in the debate yesterday on transport-related issues. I cannot promise another debate in the near future. My hon. Friend will know that we have agreed to fund Network Rail up to a maximum of £130 million to implement the package to which he refers. The investments to increase capacity and speeds on the Sheffield to Manchester line, and to increase speeds on the Manchester to Bradford via Rochdale and Halifax line and the Manchester to Preston via Bolton line are subject to value for money being confirmed, but they are a demonstration of our commitment to infrastructure, particularly in my hon. Friend’s part of the country.