All 2 Debates between Karl McCartney and Stuart Andrew

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Karl McCartney and Stuart Andrew
Wednesday 25th April 2012

(12 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Stuart Andrew Portrait Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)
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1. What discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues and others on marketing Wales as a destination for foreign business investment.

Karl McCartney Portrait Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)
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3. What discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues and others on marketing Wales as a destination for foreign business investment.

Northern Rail Hub

Debate between Karl McCartney and Stuart Andrew
Wednesday 18th January 2012

(12 years, 8 months ago)

Westminster Hall
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Stuart Andrew Portrait Stuart Andrew
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My hon. Friend never ceases to remind us that Yorkshire goes further east than Leeds. I support his comments.

Karl McCartney Portrait Karl MᶜCartney
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Please do not forget Lincolnshire either, and Lincoln.

Stuart Andrew Portrait Stuart Andrew
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It has nothing to do with me; it is up to the Minister.

Thinking about the economy, my constituency comprises old mill towns. The mills have now gone and people now travel much further to go to work. We have excellent, vibrant cities and towns in the north of England. We have a horrible reputation of wearing cloth caps and so on, but some vibrant work is going on.

I am proud that Leeds, Harrogate, York, Wakefield and Bradford are working together in the Leeds city region, ensuring that they are making the best of what we have. The chamber of commerce has now linked together with Leeds and north Yorkshire. But we need to work even more widely, so that Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, York, Sheffield and Hull can take up the opportunities that are there. However, there is an obstacle: the current network is struggling. There are more passengers on our railways, more cars on our roads and more freight on the motorways. We need to make it easier to get around.

My mother visited me recently and wanted to get over to Chester to see the rest of her family. Trying to plan her journey from Leeds to Chester was ridiculous, because she would have had to make a number of changes and spend a long time on platforms waiting for connecting trains.

Not so long ago, when I went on a Select Committee visit to Wrexham, I thought I would be good and get the train back to Leeds. It took me four and a half hours on five different trains, by which time all the officials from the Select Committee had got back to London. It is ridiculous that I cannot make a journey that would take an hour and a half by car in a similar time on the train.