"I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate and on the work on connectivity that she does on behalf of her constituents.
In the north, we now have better services; there has been huge investment on the west coast over many years, which has provided extra trains. Does my …..." Albert Owen - View Speech
"Order. I know that the hon. Lady has been very generous in giving way on a number of occasions, but to give the Minister the opportunity to make a full reply, could she make her concluding remarks?..." Albert Owen - View Speech
"I apologise for not being present for the earlier part of the debate; I was chairing another meeting. It is absolutely essential that we get fast trains stopping at Crewe. With the upgrade on the west coast main line, although many fast trains went to Manchester and Liverpool, they did …..." Albert Owen - View Speech
"The Minister is right to talk about the importance of electrification for north Wales constituencies and north Wales as a whole, but it is also important for links to Ireland, to get fast movement of people and goods to the Republic of Ireland, which is our biggest trading partner...." Albert Owen - View Speech
"I genuinely welcome the Secretary of State to his position. The performance of his two predecessors has not set a very high bar when it comes to competence in this matter. [Interruption.] The Minister of State, the right hon. Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns) is growling at me from a …..." Albert Owen - View Speech
"In his introduction, the hon. Gentleman omitted the fact that the west cost main line also serves north Wales. I will address that important point if I catch your eye, Mr Bone.
The hon. Gentleman mentioned that we may never know the detail of the bids, but surely that is …..." Albert Owen - View Speech
"I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Rosie Cooper) on securing this important debate. As a number of hon. Members have said in interventions, we have not had the opportunity to discuss this matter since the announcement was made. That is regrettable. I pay tribute to Labour …..." Albert Owen - View Speech
"Just to help the hon. Gentleman, I have been raising rail issues for many years. I am the son of a railway man. Yes, I have raised it with Conservative/Liberal Democrat and Labour Ministers.
As for the process, what was clear from my meetings with the potential bidders was that …..." Albert Owen - View Speech
"My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Derek Twigg) also made the point that we want continued improvement on the west coast line. People in all parts of the House want to improve the line, but many people including the petitioners have real …..." Albert Owen - View Speech