Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Transport

Oral Answers to Questions

Louise Haigh Excerpts
Thursday 14th December 2023

(1 year ago)

Commons Chamber
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Huw Merriman Portrait Huw Merriman
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I am glad the hon. Gentleman mentioned that report, because it is completely wrong. For a start, it states that £205 million has been spent on land and property, which is wrong—it is a different figure.

Huw Merriman Portrait Huw Merriman
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I just stated exactly what it is, if the hon. Lady had listened to my answer. We have published exactly how much has been spent: on phase 2a it was £273 million, and on phase 2b it was £201 million. Property and land will be sold only when it is right to do so, ensuring good value for the taxpayer and the communities where the property is sold.

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Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. Come on boys, you’re going to have to help me. I call the shadow Secretary of State.

Louise Haigh Portrait Louise Haigh (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab)
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May I wish you, Mr Speaker, and the whole House a very merry Christmas? Why have the Government wasted £95 million on technology to retrofit buses that does not work?

Mark Harper Portrait Mr Harper
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The hon. Lady will know that we have done a great deal of work to make sure that buses are compliant with the emissions rules. There are some technical issues being worked through at the moment, but I am not in a position to announce any decisions yet. We will announce to the House in due course when that work is completed.

Louise Haigh Portrait Louise Haigh
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Bus services are disappearing at record levels, yet the Secretary of State’s Department has wasted almost £100 million on retrofitting technology that does not work, because it was never tested outside a lab. Even for this Government, this is a shocking display of incompetence and waste. Will he now work with those cities left with useless technology and ensure that the next round of zero-emissions funding is targeted there, so that they can get on with the job of cleaning up our air and cleaning up his mess?

Mark Harper Portrait Mr Harper
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Once again, the hon. Lady simply does not recognise the significant investment that we have made in bus services. We have announced a significant amount of extra money for protecting bus routes, we have rolled out funding to deliver the £2 bus fare cap, and we have announced the money to deliver zero-emission buses and delivered the full 1,000 we said we would deliver. There has been a huge amount of investment in bus services, because we know it is the most popular form of public transport and we will always back it.