I support the amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, and her colleagues. There are few benefits in old age but I am told that one is that one’s long-term memory improves, sometimes at the cost of one’s short-term memory. I suspect that I am the only Member present here today who served on the original Channel Tunnel Bill, and I well remember the promises made at the time about the connection between HS1and HS2. Even back in those days, there was lots of criticism about the apparent devotion to expenditure on railway and transport in the south of England at the expense of the rest of the country. Assurances were given at that time that there would be genuine benefits from the Channel Tunnel and the associated high-speed lines that would spin off to both the Midlands and the north.
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Indeed, we went further. Trains were ordered to provide a service between provincial cities in England and into Scotland, and depots were built. If noble Lords take a Pendolino train to Manchester from Euston, they will see on the downside of the track at Longsight, just outside Manchester, an enormous depot marked “Eurostar Depot North-West” or something equivalent to that—certainly, “Eurostar” still appears on the depot signage. There was a genuine intention on the part of government at that time to deliver on the promises made that the Channel Tunnel Bill and associated high-speed rail links would benefit other parts of the country. Perhaps the Minister could tell us when decisions were made to rescind those promises and whether it is still possible at this late stage to reinstate that link so that it would be possible, for example, for those of us who live in Birmingham to get to Paris by train if we so desired.
Noble Lords on both sides of the Room will need no reminding of how unpleasant air journeys are between our respective countries. It is difficult to envisage the business of getting undressed for security purposes as one passes through airports lessening in future years, so there would surely be an attraction for passengers from cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds to travel directly to the continent if it was possible. As the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, reminded us, the only way of doing that under the existing proposals would be to make that journey into Euston—whether the rebuilt Euston, which we will hear about in due course, or the existing one—and then the journey to St Pancras. I do not think noble Lords on either side of the Committee would consider that journey of a few hundred yards attractive if one is to spend any time away from the United Kingdom. Neither the Victoria line nor Northern line are immediately accessible from the mainline platforms if one is carrying luggage when one arrives at Euston, and the journey between the King’s Cross St Pancras combined Underground station and the international terminal is not one that one would embark on with lots of luggage unless one was particularly keen on that mode of travel.
So there is surely an argument still, as there was 30 years ago, for through trains between this country and various capital cities in Europe. I again put it to the Minister that those promises were made, much expenditure was embarked on, trains were ordered and depots built, yet we have this farcical situation where the only way one can get, for example, from Birmingham to Paris by train is by negotiating the distance between Euston and St Pancras International by London Underground. No other country in the world would say that that was a sensible way to travel. Indeed, I believe we are becoming the laughing stock of the railway world—Europe-wise at least; there is a slight contradiction between the world and Europe, but the Committee will know what I am aiming at when I say that if this is the best we can do as a nation, most other countries would say that it is not good enough. The Minister should look again at a proper connection between the two high-speed lines and justify the amount of taxpayers’ money from the Midlands and the north being spent on the completely new stretches of railway line. For reasons that the Minister can no doubt outline to us, that would be money wasted without the connection as outlined earlier by the noble Baroness. I give way to my noble friend.