Railways Bill (Carry-over Extension) Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Olly Glover
Main Page: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)Department Debates - View all Olly Glover's debates with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Railways Bill (Carry-over Extension)
Olly Glover Excerpts(1 day, 22 hours ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage) (LD)
Yes, I am very much here, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Goodness me! How am I to follow that? I wonder how many other people have managed to get “sugar daddies” into Hansard. Congratulations to the shadow Secretary of State on that.
Nothing has changed with this legislation, as of yet, so our grave concerns remain. Of course, we hope that the deliberations of our noble Lords will lead to some improvements, and we look forward to seeing those at a later date. My only question to the Minister is: why has it taken so long to deliver this Bill? He is quite right to say that the opportunity for scrutiny is important, and that is welcome, but by my analysis, there have been some unexplained gaps, including one and a half months between Second Reading and Committee, and a four-month gap between the Committee concluding and Report. There was also a two-month gap in the Lords between Second Reading and Committee. I very much hope that the Secretary of State did not procure HS2 or East West Rail to project-manage this Bill, but perhaps the Minister will tell us he is considering introducing some form of parliamentary delay-repay scheme.