Railways: Swansea to Paddington

Lord Richard Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Richard (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach (Con)]

I think it would be useful if we heard from the Labour Party Benches and then perhaps from Plaid Cymru.

[Lord Richard]

My Lords—

[Lord Anderson of Swansea]

My Lords—

[Lord Richard]

The Minister said in his initial Answer that Sir Peter Hendy would look into, among other things, the “affordability” of the project. If funding is not an issue, what on earth is he going to look into?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I must say to noble Lords that I am very impressed by my popularity on the last day of term. The noble Lord nevertheless raises an important point. I mentioned affordability because of course challenges have arisen. That is why it is important to allow Sir Peter to look into all elements of the challenges that have arisen around Network Rail. As I have said already, we will return to this issue in the autumn.