"I always enjoyed my little spats with the hon. Gentleman’s predecessor, Jenny Chapman, when we both claimed our respective towns were the real home of the railways. The first passenger line went from Stockton to Darlington. We agreed that it started in Stockton, but, she said, with Darlington money. Surely …..." Alex Cunningham - View Speech
"I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. We are all Tees valley MPs in this Chamber this afternoon. I would like to send a message to the Minister. I am old enough to have been there in Darlington as a schoolboy when we celebrated the 150th anniversary …..." Alex Cunningham - View Speech
"There is a bypass around Darlington at the moment, all the way to Stockton, which the Minister may like to bear in mind. He might have enjoyed the small spat between the Tees valley MPs as we bid for the headquarters, but I wanted to tease him a little and …..." Alex Cunningham - View Speech
"T2. Rail services on, to, and from Teesside are probably some of the worst in the country, with hand-me-down diesel trains and intermittent services. Soon we will have the 200th anniversary of the start of the railways, which was the Stockton and Darlington railway. Any chance of improvements before then?..." Alex Cunningham - View Speech
"Will the Secretary of State back the “Bring Back the Buses” campaign to reconnect communities and isolated villages in my area that have lost their services?..." Alex Cunningham - View Speech
"As the Minister will be aware, one of the partners in this failure is Stobart, which operates Teesside airport on behalf of the Tees Valley Mayor and was contracted to do the job because of so-called expertise in the industry. This must be an added anxiety for the Mayor, who …..." Alex Cunningham - View Speech
"Teesside International airport tripled its losses to nearly £6 million under the stewardship of the Tees Valley Mayor last year—after he had paid tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money for it. Flybe is one of the few airlines to provide flights from the airport—44% of them—and is critical …..." Alex Cunningham - View Speech