High Speed Rail (Crewe - Manchester) Bill (Instruction) (No. 3)

Debate between Jim McMahon and Baroness Winterton of Doncaster

Tuesday 21st May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jim McMahon]

Any functioning Government should be able to balance the need to involve local people in decisions that affect their day-to-day lives, providing certainty about the future and being able to get vital infrastructure investments for the country off the ground. It should not be a trade-off between one or the other, where people’s livelihoods and lives are left in the air for years and years, only for the project to be taken away. In the end, nobody wins, do they? People cannot get the time back that they wasted being stressed about the impact because they were not properly consulted and engaged, only to have it scrapped overnight—and for what? It is about involving people in the right time in the right decisions, so that they have agency in the process.

I will bring my remarks to a conclusion with this: if London did not have to choose between its sub-regional investment and its national investment, why on earth should the north of England?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

In order to get the last two speakers in, I need to put on a time limit of six minutes.

Points of Order

Debate between Jim McMahon and Baroness Winterton of Doncaster

Monday 16th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Jim McMahon (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab/Co-op)]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Last week, the High Court ruled against the Dartmoor national park authority, which sought to protect the right of free access for wild camping. That is a significant backward step that seemingly puts the financial interests of one person above the fundamental access rights that have been hard fought for and provided for in law by this House. It goes beyond Dartmoor and could put at risk rights and protections for national parks, including the right to roam. Have you had any notice from the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of her intention to make a statement to the House? If not, can you advise the House on how best to pursue the issue on behalf of communities across the country who could be affected by the judgment?

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Rosie Winterton)]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his point of order and for giving me notice of it. I can confirm that I have not had notice of a statement on this matter. However, the hon. Gentleman has put his point on the record, and Ministers and those on the Treasury Bench will have heard his point of order. On advice about how to bring this matter to the attention of the House in the future, he is a very experienced Member of the House and I am sure he will know the various options available to him, but if he wants any further advice, I suggest that he speaks to the Clerks in the Table Office.