Smith Commission Principles: Railway Policing

Lord Wallace of Saltaire Excerpts

Monday 18th April 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dunlop]

As regards this issue, I go back to what my noble friend Lord Empey said. I am not sure whether he is in his place today, but he has great experience of these matters in Northern Ireland. He was absolutely confident that we could put in place effective working arrangements. However, he did caveat that by saying that it would take time to achieve that. It is certainly our view and expectation that it would take two to three years to ensure that there is a proper transfer of these functions.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)]

My Lords, is the Minister sure that we should be making a direct comparison with Northern Ireland in this respect? I understand that trains run between England and Scotland but not between England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

[Lord Dunlop]

I absolutely take the point that the noble Lord makes.