Tom Greatrex
Main Page: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)Department Debates - View all Tom Greatrex's debates with the Department for Transport
(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd South (Susan Elan Jones) on securing the debate and on the case that she has made for High Speed 2. There is no need to repeat the benefits for the business environment and the economy or the point about capacity constraints, because those points have been well made.
I want to touch on a couple of issues relating to Scotland and to my constituency and neighbouring constituencies. The Minister is aware of the group High Speed 2 Scotland, which has published papers looking at the benefits of high-speed rail for Scotland. I want to reiterate some of its key points on the environmental benefits in particular. Currently, some 7 million journeys to London from Glasgow and/or Edinburgh are undertaken every year, but 6 million of those are by air. I freely admit that I do the same more often than I would like to, which is the case for many people I have spoken to who must travel to London for business purposes. They would rather not do the journey by air but, unfortunately, the time taken by rail at the moment is too long. There is an issue to do with the opportunities for business in Scotland as well.
In the past, the Minister’s predecessors had discussions with Scottish Ministers about HS2 in Scotland. She will be under pressure to respond to many points, but I hope that she will touch on whether such discussions have continued and when she last met Scottish Ministers. I also hope that she will touch on the feasibility of, if we eventually reach consideration of an extension beyond the initial phase of HS2, and potential for building from north to south, rather than from south to north, because that might be useful.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)
The hon. Gentleman is discussing Scotland. Other hon. Members have spoken eloquently about other parts of the country, and as a Northern Ireland MP my request concerns the HS2 opportunities for Stranraer, where the Northern Ireland traffic goes. Something should be done there, because all parts of the United Kingdom should benefit from HS2.
Tom Greatrex
I agree that all parts of the United Kingdom should benefit from HS2, which is why it is important that we look beyond the initial stage and start some of the planning discussion now, and why I want an assurance on looking at the feasibility of building from north to south.
Chris Ruane
The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) has mentioned Northern Ireland, but it is important to connect the whole island of Ireland. Holyhead to Dublin is part of a trans-European network route connecting Ireland to the centre of Europe. We ought to be good Europeans and support that route, ensuring that the link is put all the way through to Holyhead.
Tom Greatrex
I am sure we all support the benefits of greater connectivity. Every Member who has made a contribution, and those who will subsequently do so, would attest to that. I hope therefore that the Minister will respond favourably to my points, which I made in particular about Scotland.