Thursday 5th September 2019

(5 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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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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Grant Shapps Portrait Grant Shapps
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I do not think there is any direct ramification. We have just re-let the west coast partnership contract, so the answer to my hon. Friend is, none.

Jeff Smith Portrait Jeff Smith (Manchester, Withington) (Lab)
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HS2 is vital for the economy of Manchester and the north. As the chairman’s stocktake says:

“HS2 is not a standalone railway but rather an integral part of ambitious regional growth plans,”

and it is already attracting investment. Will the Secretary of State assure us that those wider benefits will fully be taken into account in this review?

Grant Shapps Portrait Grant Shapps
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I can. I have met the Mayor of Manchester and Mayors across the north, and I am due to meet them again shortly. Those things absolutely will be taken into account.