Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Louise Haigh and Hilary Benn(2 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Hilary Benn
As I said during the last Northern Ireland questions, no one wants to see that happen. We are currently working to find a lawful way of dealing with the problems that were created by the way in which the original interim custody orders were signed in 1972 and, I think, 1973. In 2020, the Supreme Court found that orders that had not been signed and considered by the then Secretary of State were not lawful.
Louise Haigh (Sheffield Heeley) (Lab)
In 2019, Boris Johnson commissioned the Shawcross report on Libyan-sponsored IRA terrorism. United States citizens have received compensation from the Libyan Government for attacks on British soil, but UK citizens never have. Will the Secretary of State work with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to ensure that the report is published?
Hilary Benn
The whole House will have profound sympathy for all the victims of Gaddafi-sponsored IRA terrorism, and all the victims of the troubles. The Shawcross report was commissioned by the last Government as an internal report, and decisions on the report and its future are currently under review by the FCDO.
Rail Investment and Integrated Rail Plan
Debate between Louise Haigh and Hilary Benn(3 years, 3 months ago)
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Louise Haigh
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. London colleagues will be battling with the Government in the next three days over promises that were made to Londoners about TfL funding, on which they are again engaging in that brinkmanship.
Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)
Does my hon. Friend share the frustration of so many people in Leeds and Yorkshire that, after 11 years of planning and working hard, the Government cancel the eastern leg and the integrated rail plan says:
“We will look at the most effective way to run HS2 trains to Leeds”?
We do not have to look very far; there was a plan, which the Government have reneged on.
Louise Haigh
Absolutely. I am afraid, as my right hon. Friend has pointed out, that the IRP is full of nonsense like that.
The economic case for delivering the original plans as promised could hardly be stronger. Both schemes would have created more than 150,000 new jobs, connecting 13 million people in major towns and cities in our industrial heartlands. Without that eastern leg of HS2, the business case barely makes sense. In the middle of a climate emergency, when we know that we need to double rail capacity in order for the Government to meet their own net zero target, the decision makes even less sense. This was a once-in-a-generation chance to transform opportunity across the whole country, rebalance the economy and level up, but last month the Government tore their promises up.