Lord Moylan
Main Page: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Moylan's debates with the HM Treasury
(3 days ago)
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Lord Livermore (Lab)
I am grateful to the noble Lord for his support for what we have set out and for connectivity in general. We announced £1.5 billion for South Yorkshire, to support the reopening of Doncaster Airport and to renew the existing and now publicly controlled Supertram network with track replacements, overhead line maintenance, rolling stock renewal and a full fleet of new vehicles by 2032, linking jobs and homes in Sheffield and Rotherham. It was also to reform South Yorkshire’s buses—the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Rolfe, is keen on buses—with franchise buses operating in Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham by 2027 and across South Yorkshire by 2029.
Lord Moylan (Con)
My Lords, I am curious about the relationship between the timing of this announcement and the review of the Green Book. The figures announced today are practically the same as those promised by the Conservative Government a year ago. We are expecting from the Government a review of the Green Book which is meant to tilt investment further towards the city regions outside London. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury confirmed in his Statement yesterday that the Green Book review will be published next week. Why have the Government rushed out these figures, which are clearly based on the existing Green Book and the Conservatives’ financial methodology? Would the city regions not have benefited more had the Chief Secretary waited until after next week’s announcement, when the new Green Book—we do not know what it will contain yet—is in place?