"It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Charles. I congratulate the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) on securing the debate.
This debate is about the future of rail, but understandably the question on everyone’s mind at the moment is which of our towns or cities …..." Julian Sturdy - View Speech
That this House has considered the matter of York’s bid to host the headquarters of Great British Railways.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Efford. I thank the City of York Council for its time and effort in preparing York’s case and …..." Julian Sturdy - View Speech
"I thank my right hon. Friend for that intervention, based on which I consider that he might have had sight of my speech, because I will come on to that point. He is absolutely right: we have to link the past with the future. York has an amazing rail heritage …..." Julian Sturdy - View Speech
"I thank the hon. Member—I was going to call her my hon. Friend—and neighbour. I think she might have seen my speech as well, because I was going to touch on skills. She is absolutely right that the skills in York have been developed not only through the Network Rail …..." Julian Sturdy - View Speech
"It will come as no surprise to my hon. Friend that I am not going to agree with that, but I understand that she is putting her case forward, as she always does extremely well. I will continue to argue that York is at the centre of the country when …..." Julian Sturdy - View Speech
"I could not have put it better myself. I completely agree with my hon. Friend: it is about the skill base and the digital future. We have that wider skill base, which I will elaborate on further, but it strengthens York’s case and makes it, for me, the only choice.
"Automation, yes. I thank my hon. Friend for putting me right on that. The University of Leeds is currently developing the new state-of-the-art Institute for High Speed Rail and Systems Integration. That work was enabled by collaboration between key sectors in the fields of railway engineering, signalling and software development, …..." Julian Sturdy - View Speech
"Absolutely. The location is perfect, with the brownfield regeneration site that interlinks with the Network Rail headquarters and all the skills around there, as we have touched on. Those new skills are so important to the future of our railways. That is what we, as well as the region, can …..." Julian Sturdy - View Speech
"I am bound to agree with that, as someone who lives and works on the edge of York, as many people in this debate do. We all know what a fantastic place York is to live and to work in, which is surely a huge attraction when we need to …..." Julian Sturdy - View Speech
"I bow to my right hon. Friend’s knowledge of history, but yes, absolutely—the precedent is there. This issue is also about the future, as we have said. Nevertheless, I entirely agree with him.
Despite York Central being an important and distinguishing feature of York’s bid, that bid is not dependent …..." Julian Sturdy - View Speech