Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

I used to be the shadow Minister for the millennium dome, so I will not be drawn into a long debate about that saga. The millennium dome was, at all material times, a white elephant; Waterloo international is a very fine building that needs to be brought back into use straight away. The problem with the millennium dome was that it was difficult to find anybody who could make a commercial go of it, whereas everybody is saying, ““Let's get Waterloo station back into full operational use as soon as possible.”” The Government talk about doing something by 2014. If they had a clear plan, the first thing that one would expect them to say—for example, to my hon. Friend the Member for Orpington (Mr. Horam), who made an excellent speech—““The hon. Gentleman's suggestion is feasible,”” or, ““That is not feasible.”” Of course, it would not be feasible if the bridge linking the old Eurostar line that goes over the railway tracks between Clapham Junction and Waterloo to allow services from Petts Wood and Orpington to come into Waterloo were taken away. What depresses me about this debate is that I would have expected a Minister to say, ““That's a good idea—yes, we can do that,”” or, ““That's a bad idea—it won't be practical because we think that our priority should be services coming in from the south-west.”” The fact that the Minister does not seem to know which of those options is to be used shows how far we are from reaching any conclusion.