Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

I shall not detain the House long. I am delighted that amendment No. 9 has been selected. As my right hon. Friend has been saying, the question of fees charged by the ORR was raised during some lengthy deliberations in Committee. He has explained that the intention in Committee was to ensure that the fee was consistent with the fee levied on operators of other parts of the network and that it was based on the costs reasonably incurred, and not on anything else. He started suggesting some sensible changes in Committee and he has proposed them today, so I am pleased to have added my name to the amendment. As he said, under the amendment the ORR would no longer be assessing itself in terms of reasonable costs. Thus, the test of reasonableness would be made much more impartial, and therefore fair and credible. This excellent amendment improves the wording, and I hope that the Minister will support it. My right hon. Friend also discussed amendment No. 2, which I also support. It would ensure that the fees could not be raised by the ORR upon a revision of a notice notifying a fee—he has just elucidated that important principle—and it represents an improvement to the clause. The amendment is sensible and rational, and it needs to be taken with amendment No. 9. Those amendments, taken together, improve the clause as drafted.