High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill

Debate between Stephen Timms and Caroline Spelman
Thursday 31st October 2013

(11 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Stephen Timms Portrait Stephen Timms
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I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. I am aware that the proposal for that interconnection is now rather more costly that it was initially. However, as far as I can see, the problem has not been solved. There is still a limit of three trains per hour, which is clearly insufficient. I warmly welcome amendment 17.

Caroline Spelman Portrait Mrs Spelman
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Just to help the right hon. Gentleman on the question of whether the expenditure on High Speed 2 will come at the cost of investment in existing infrastructure, which might provide the kind of connection that he is seeking, “The Strategic Case for HS2”, which was published yesterday, states:

“Between 2014 and 2019, Network Rail will spend over £35bn allowing it to continue a substantial programme of expansion and renewal.”

That might allow him to seek the kind of amelioration that he wants.

Stephen Timms Portrait Stephen Timms
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I am grateful to the right hon. Lady. However, I believe that an adequate connection should be part of the initial proposal.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Timms and Caroline Spelman
Thursday 26th April 2012

(12 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Stephen Timms Portrait Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)
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T4. PepsiCo, BT, the Co-op, Centrica and United Utilities all support mandatory carbon reporting to improve business environmental performance. The Secretary of State’s party supported it in opposition, but the statutory deadline for a decision has now been missed. They wanted to be the greenest Government ever, but when are they going to deliver on that?

Caroline Spelman Portrait Mrs Spelman
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The support of the companies the right hon. Gentleman identifies is welcome in that regard. I issued a statement to the House about the delay. The difficulty is that those companies report their carbon on a different basis. We therefore need to take the time to find a common basis on which to measure how companies report carbon so that investors can compare like with like.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stephen Timms and Caroline Spelman
Thursday 1st March 2012

(13 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Caroline Spelman Portrait Mrs Spelman
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I absolutely give the hon. Lady that assurance. I know that she is coming to see the Minister of State on Monday. Both he and I have strongly put the case that she has outlined. There are obvious employment consequences for London as a result of this threat to the viability of the cane side of the business. We believe that we need both sources of sugar in this country to flourish and be successful, and we believe there is room for both.

Stephen Timms Portrait Stephen Timms (East Ham) (Lab)
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14. There is a shortage of sugar in Europe, yet the Silvertown refinery is forced to run at just 60% capacity, which seems ridiculous. Does the Secretary of State agree that it cannot be right to have a charge of €87 a tonne for extra beet quota, while the charge for each extra tonne of sugar cane is €270?

Caroline Spelman Portrait Mrs Spelman
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I am well aware that the right hon. Gentleman’s constituency is also affected by the threat to the viability of the cane refining side of the business. I can assure him absolutely that, from the first sight of these Commission proposals under common agricultural policy reform, and in the context of high world sugar prices, we have worked hard to ensure in our national interest that both sources of sugar have their place as part of our sugar economy. Ultimately, trade liberalisation is what should give us a level playing field and a fair opportunity for both types of sugar processing.