Draft Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2021

Sam Tarry Excerpts

Monday 8th February 2021 General Committees

[Sam Tarry (Ilford South) (Lab)]

It is a great honour to serve under your chairmanship for my first statutory instrument as shadow Minister, Sir Graham. I thank the Minister for her remarks. I put on the record that the Labour party does not oppose the changes made on 1 December 2020, in accordance with the Crossrail funding agreement between the GLA and the Department for Transport.

By directly taking on the governance of Crossrail in October last year, Transport for London stepped up to the plate at a time when many thought that the Government should perhaps do more to support it. Despite the project being jointly sponsored, with enormous benefits for the whole of the UK economy, as the Minister rightly pointed out, Crossrail’s shortfall will be covered initially by the GLA borrowing up to £825 million from the DFT in the form of a grant.

The ambition is to stay within that figure—one hopes that that remains the case—but it is far from a given, in the light of the huge complexity and various pressures of the project. The GLA will pay that loan from business rate supplements and mayoral community infrastructure levy revenues. Importantly, the statutory instrument enables repayment by extending the period within which the Mayor of London can collect and apply the CIL for borrowing for Crossrail projects from 2030 right through to 2043.

This is a statutory instrument, so I do not mean to play politics, but I will make the small point that the Government could perhaps have done more at an earlier stage in the project so that Londoners were not asked to chip in. That comes despite the fact that the Treasury receives the overwhelming majority of the economic benefit of Crossrail. It is important to state that it is generally forecast to generate at least £42 billion for the wider UK economy. Furthermore, more than 60% of the project’s suppliers are based outside London, which is incredibly important because it means that the additional funding will support the economy across the country. That is a further example of London supporting the economy, in stark contrast to the way that the Government sometimes talk about London and its payback to the rest of the country.

Members may well point to the recent deal struck between the Government and the GLA, but in reality, far from providing urgently needed grant funding, the deal only forced the Mayor to borrow more, meaning that ultimately, Londoners and businesses will pay. That was the only deal on the table, but it makes available only an initial £825 million of the potential £1.1 billion shortfall that is projected—that is a concern. I know that Crossrail Ltd and TfL are working incredibly hard to deliver the project within that funding structure. I hope that, should the full £1.1 billion be needed, the Government will adopt a more responsible approach to those discussions with the Mayor, and end the brinkmanship on such an important project that benefits so much of the country.

London needs the Elizabeth line more than ever as we emerge post-covid, and UK-wide, the railway will help the UK economy to recover as life returns to normal in, I hope, the not-too-distant future. Although the pandemic has significantly impacted transport ridership, as London reopens to business, the Elizabeth line’s capacity will, I hope, enable passengers to adhere to social distancing guidelines more easily when they travel, and provide relief to other methods of travel, including the London underground. The Elizabeth line—I think this is where the Opposition and the Government agree—can and should be the spearhead of that recovery.