Lord Snape
Main Page: Lord Snape (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Popat
My Lords, the council has submitted a bid for funding a parkway station on the Worcester to Oxford line. While the bids are being considered, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the merits of this scheme. Since privatisation the number of passengers travelling on our railways has gone up by 60%.
Lord Snape
My Lords, in this spirit of co-operation, I ask the Minister on his first appearance at the Dispatch Box to consider paying tribute to Mr Tony Speller, the former Conservative Member of Parliament for North Devon, who died recently, whose amendment to the Transport Act did so much to help to reverse some of the disastrous decisions that were taken following the Beeching proposals 50 years ago.
Lord Popat
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord; we must pay tribute to him. I also pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Fowler, who, when he first became the Secretary of State in 1979, was the one who put a stop to the closure of railway stations.