Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

Network Rail will be able to bid for it. As the Minister said, it would be wrong for anyone in the House to prejudice the outcome of the bidding process. The Government assume that if the assets of LCR were sold, their value— without this legislation—might be sub-optimal due to the lack of clarity about the funding arrangements for capital construction and the future. One of the things that we will be keen to learn from the Minister is what guarantees the Secretary of State has given with regard to the construction phase. Will the Bill allow the assets to be sold with those guarantees? Does it imply that if London and Continental Railways assets were sold, the debt would remain guaranteed by the Government and the original funders? The Minister was right to say that clause 1 implied the existence of a sufficient level of uncertainty over whether the powers that the Secretary of State had to fund the project during the construction phase would continue into the operational phase. We shall want the Minister to clarify at some point whether he means that those powers apply to the whole channel tunnel rail link, or just to the channel tunnel rail link and LCR after the construction phase. Does the uncertainty stem from some ambiguity in the original Act, and why did that Act not cover the post-construction phase? That is an important point because, as the Minister well knows, later this week a Bill that is very analogous to the Bill will be considered in Committee, and we need to be sure that the provisions in this Bill cannot be applied to the construction phase of another major project. I assume that the import and intent of the Bill will not affect a net change in the overall cost to the public exchequer, but merely confirm what is already the case. However, questions arise from Secretary of State's power to continue to fund the channel tunnel rail link and the trains that run on its infrastructure. Does that imply that the subsidy applies to both infrastructure managers and train operating companies? Will the Minister confirm that there will be no overall change in public cost, but merely a restatement of the guarantee? Why is it envisaged that the Government will subsidise the operating cost, and for how long is that envisaged to last? If Eurostar train operations succeed or at least break even, why should the public purse continue to operate a public subsidy? All that arises in clause 1. Although the Bill itself is small, we shall have a fair amount of work to do in Committee. Clause 2 appears to repeal some of the existing provisions in the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 relating to the Office of Rail Regulation which it is claimed are no longer necessary. Again, we shall seek clarification of the exact extent of what the Government are doing. Under section 16(1) of the 1996 Act, any operator of CTRL is not required to hold a licence under the Railways Act 1993, and therefore access arrangements relating to the channel tunnel rail link do not generally require the prior approval of the ORR. We shall seek elucidation of why the operator is not required to hold a licence. Will that continue into the operational phase, and, if so, does the Minister expect the position to change? Do the access arrangements that currently do not need prior approval not need it because they have been agreed, or because they will be regulated by some different method? I understand that all access contracts in relation to the channel tunnel rail link are outside the regulation of the ORR under the terms of the 1993 Act. How long does the Minister intend that to continue, and is it really desirable? What impact will it have on the ORR's normal powers in relation to safety and performance? All that is covered by clause 2, which is short but gives rise to a number of issues. Clause 3 makes some changes to the ORR's duties in relation to the channel tunnel rail link. It gives specific powers to ensure that functions in connection with the national rail network which the ORR formerly exercised to prevent the construction project from being adversely affected are now changed. It is a small repealing measure. As the Minister said earlier, clause 4 allows the ORR to charge a fee to the operators of the channel tunnel rail link in proportion to the cost that is incurred. Although this is a relatively small Bill, clauses 1,2 and 3 will require scrutiny in Committee. As I said earlier, however, behind the Bill stands a unique British achievement, and the Minister was right to praise it. Conservative Members also salute that unique achievement. I am grateful to the Minister for his offer of a briefing prior to the Committee stage. I hope it will be enlightening, and that it might raise the scales from my eyes with regard to some of the Bill's more technical points. We intend to aid the Bill's parliamentary progress and I ask my colleagues to support it.