High Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Bill: Select Committee

With this, we shall discuss the following:

Amendment (b), at end of paragraph 3(1)(b), inse...

Yesterday the House voted comprehensively in favour of the principle of a high-speed railway betw...

Having spoken with the Public Bill Office earlier, I understand that the petition period starts t...

If that is the case, I stand corrected. The petition period will then be extended by an additiona...

My hon. Friend and I go back a long way, and I know him to be a true Yorkshireman who will look a...

That will be a matter for the House authorities, but I am sure that it would be acceptable to pay...

Can the Minister explain why there is a £20 fee? HS2 Ltd, which is spending hundreds of millions ...

HS2 itself has spent considerable taxpayer funds on trying to mitigate many of the environmental ...

Does the hon. Gentleman not think that it would antagonise the public more if, when their house w...

We do not believe that the £20 fee is prohibitive. Of course, if some of the amendments were agre...

Could such complaints from a number of sources be combined and presented with one £20 note, or wo...

I can allay my hon. Friend’s concerns. Yes, a group of people can petition together and only one ...

On a matter for which the Minister may be responsible, how long does he expect the Committee to s...

We have already made it clear that we do not expect the Committee to conclude its work, which mus...

I think the Minister just said that he does not expect the Committee to conclude. In other words,...

Any motions passed in the House today can be amended in future by the House. If, for example, the...

rose—

Before the hon. Gentleman intervenes, let me say that I feel sure beyond doubt that the Minister ...

I have almost forgotten what I was going to ask after that rather lengthy—but welcome—contributio...

The membership of the Committee is a matter for the House. When after the next election we have a...

I agree that it should not be for the Committee to devise an alternative link, but can the Minist...

The hon. Lady makes a very good point. Indeed, there is already passive provision in the first ph...

rose—

I give way to the right hon. Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Frank Dobson).

Much as I welcome the dropping of the preposterous HS2-HS1 link, as do all the people whose lives...

I hope that, following the decision to scrap the link, I have a few more friends in Camden than b...

I am pleased to hear the Minister refer to a travelator for efficient and easy travel. He said th...

I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. However, having analysed this carefully and brought...

About 20 years ago, I chaired the Committee on the hybrid Croydon Tramlink Bill. At that time, we...

I am saying that if the hybrid Bill Committee proposed changes that the Government agreed to, the...

The hon. Gentleman is getting himself back on to my Christmas card list, from which he was reject...

Any link between HS1 and HS2 is not part of the Bill that was before us last night or the provisi...

I will not pre-empt what I have to say when I move my amendment, but will the Minister clarify wh...

The passive provision for the Heathrow spur is included in the first phase. That is because if th...

May I make this clear? The passive provision for Heathrow is already in place, and passive provis...

Yes, I think the hon. Lady has got it right. There is an opportunity, should anyone wish to take ...

Is one study taking place or two? There is the question whether we have a travelator-type arrange...

Those are two separate matters that are mutually exclusive. We are looking at whether better prov...

When?

I haven’t a clue. Even when I was in the Whips Office, we did not get to hear about that.

B...

The Select Committee that was appointed to consider the Crossrail Bill had 10 members, so why has...

To be absolutely honest with the hon. Gentleman, many people who volunteered to consider the Cros...

As I understand it, this is a general debate about all the issues, as encapsulated in the motions...

It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the compensation package at this stage, given that...

Last night the House gave its clear endorsement to the principle of building a new, high-speed ra...

I shall deal with my amendments to the motions. As I am following the hon. Member for Nottingham ...

I am interested in what my right hon. Friend is saying, but does she not think that one merit of ...

I entirely agree. The six men—

They are not all men.

The five men and one woman—I apologise to the hon. Member for Bolton South East—have been chosen ...

My right hon. Friend makes an interesting point. As she was talking, I was wondering whether, whe...

As a former Whip, my right hon. Friend will know that he and I may not discuss in public matters ...

Perhaps it is inappropriate for me to offer my services free, but if there are any questions on t...

I am grateful for my colleague’s offer. I am sure that the Minister will have taken it on board. ...

I apologise for missing the first part of the right hon. Lady’s speech. I agree with her strongly...

The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point, which extends the point that I am making without labourin...

I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way today. The advice that the Committee takes and the ex...

I am grateful for that intervention. I am using this debate as a vehicle to raise these questions...

Does the right hon. Lady recognise that some of the organisations that are said to have advised t...

One has to be very careful in this game and read the fine print. Even when one reads the fine pri...

Before the right hon. Lady moves on from this point, will she comment on the intervention by the ...

That is another valid point. The hon. Lady and I would agree that we want to ensure that the Comm...

I am following what my right hon. Friend is saying and I share her disappointment at the blocking...

I am sorry if I gave that impression. I do not entirely agree with my right hon. Friend, but perh...

If somebody presents a petition for extra tunnelling, presumably HS2 will have to present how muc...

I have learned that making a presumption about this project is always dangerous. I, too, would ha...

rose—

I will give way to the Minister, and I would also like to know why county and district councils h...

May I confirm to my right hon. Friend that town councils are in fact parish councils? The council...

I am most grateful. Does the Minister also want to tell us why there is a week’s difference in th...

We are just following previous practice. My right hon. Friend will be aware that many local autho...

That is all well and good, but the process is complex and I was just seeking to simplify it by ha...

We ought to stress that the dates set are deadlines, not dates on which all petitions have to be ...

That is a valid point, and I appreciate what my right hon. Friend says about deadlines, because s...

I think I have a common-sense answer to that, which probably means that it cannot happen. It is f...

I will go with the flow on that, because I think PayPal is very good, particularly for buying stu...

Oh, I don’t know about that. Go to your high street.

PayPal is good, but I must admit to my right hon. Friend, who has a small interest in the retail ...

Again, I have a possible solution. Obviously, the reason for the fee is to prevent vexatious peti...

My right hon. Friend is leading me down a path that I do not really want to go down. I appreciate...

My right hon. Friend raises an extremely important point because clarity and giving people time t...

My right hon. Friend knows that it is a long time since I was familiar with what goes in on court...

May I reassure my right hon. Friend? I have some personal experience of this procedure, having up...

That is helpful of my right hon. Friend and I am sure his experience of these matters will be tak...

On that important point, if someone whose views are different from one’s own is abused, that is n...

It must be said that there is no better practitioner of that principle in this House than the hon...

I agree with the hon. Gentleman and I am grateful for that support and endorsement. I probably fa...

May I put on the record our gratitude for the way that the current Secretary of State is doing ex...

I would agree with that. I have known the Secretary of State for a very long time. Indeed, my mot...

My right hon. Friend raises a very important point. Certainly, when I had anything to do with thi...

That is an interesting response because we have changed Standing Orders for this process and for ...

When the Convention on the Future of Europe was set up, we did have a Joint Committee between the...

The hon. Lady has taken the very words out of my mouth. I was going to say that it has happened b...

No one would be more delighted than I would be if the Committee concluded its work by the next ge...

I understand that. I cannot say that I would want the Committee to conclude it work before the ge...

This gave rise to an animated conversation in the Tea Room yesterday from some of the proposed Co...

I think that such a commitment should be reserved for Mr Speaker. Unfortunately, I did not manage...

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate as the right hon. Member for Holborn and St Pan...

The small businesses along the route—shops or, indeed, farms—can petition either as businesses, i...

The next question is this: does the business restriction apply to the association of businesses i...

I stand to be corrected by wiser authorities than me, but an association would be in the same cat...

I am grateful for that clarification, but I am sorry about the direction of it.

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that some very small businesses would have greatly benefited ...

I entirely share the hon. Gentleman’s views about that. I am glad that Camden council is organisi...

To clarify, if any changes that result from the Committee responding to petitions affect people w...

I understand that; my question is this. Let us suppose the matter comes back to the House and the...

I will correct this if it is not right, but my understanding is that if that happened—there are n...

I thank the Minister for that; I am 99% reassured.

As the Minister knows, the Bill’s propos...

I shall comment on that when I sum up at the end, so that I do not misinform the right hon. Gentl...

I welcome that reassurance.

I am particularly concerned, too, about the statutory and non-s...

Hear, hear.

I hear my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown). It has just occurred to me that if HS2...

It is always a pleasure to follow the Old Contemptible himself, the right hon. Member for Holborn...

I should remind the right hon. Gentleman that, although only 50 of us voted for the amendment yes...

I am grateful for that intervention from another venerable greybeard. Something of a theme seems ...

Does the right hon. Gentleman share my view that we can take some comfort from the thought that e...

Personally, I would rather vote for £1 billion each, but that would probably be inappropriate.