Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Transport

Oral Answers to Questions

Kerry McCarthy Excerpts
Thursday 17th September 2020

(3 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Rachel Maclean Portrait Rachel Maclean
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I hope that the hon. Gentleman is not attempting to travel to Wales via New York because that would definitely encourage congestion. I can assure him that we are investing strongly in public transport. We will continue to support the bus sector. We have provided £218.4 million of funding on a rolling basis from 4 August. We have provided over £700 million-worth of funding for public transport throughout the pandemic.

Kerry McCarthy Portrait Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)
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I am pleased that the Government have listened to Labour and are considering bringing forward the date for the phase-out of the sale of new diesel, petrol and hybrid vehicles, but how is the Minister actually going to get us there? All we have had from the Government lately is gimmicks like green number plates and the suggestion that they will paint electric vehicle parking spaces green. The charging infrastructure is woefully inadequate. Other than painting everything green, what is her actual strategy?

Rachel Maclean Portrait Rachel Maclean
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This was a Conservative Government pledge in our latest manifesto. We are accelerating the transition to zero-emission vehicles with £2.5 billion of support. We already have one of the most extensive charging networks in Europe, and we are ramping it up all the time.