Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Metcalfe Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I am bound to say that I always regard the right hon. Gentleman as an English classicist, and to my mind the pronunciation “skedule” is an Americanism that I would not expect of him.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

Following the welcome introduction of free flow tolling and the Dart charge, a number of my constituents have experienced problems accessing the residents’ discount and transferring from the old system to the new. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on whether these are isolated incidents or whether there is a systemic problem?

[Mr Hayes]

I take your advice particularly seriously, Mr Speaker, as you know, but I did not want anyone to think that modernity was a foreign place for me, so I was adopting a little Americanism.

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the interests of his constituents, as he always does so forcefully. As these questions need to have a real and direct purpose, I shall set up a special line for my hon. Friend so he can feed into the system any concerns his constituents have. It will be a conduit by which he can articulate their needs and worries so that we can get this absolutely right.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr McLoughlin]

Yesterday my right hon. Friend the Chancellor made a number of announcements—indeed, he was criticised by some for putting too much in those announcements. As the hon. Lady will remember, I provided the money to move that scheme up to the next stage on the guide to rail investment process some time ago, and I await the outcome of that work.

[Stephen Metcalfe (South Basildon and East Thurrock) (Con)]

T2. As a result of increased rail use, level crossings in my constituency, particularly at East Tilbury, are spending longer closed. Not only does that cause severe delays to traffic and commuters, it puts lives at risk. Will my right hon. Friend meet me and put pressure on the Treasury to make more money available to deal with level crossings?

[Mr McLoughlin]

A lot of work is currently being done with Network Rail and on that particular port and scheme. I will report back to my hon. Friend and ask for a direct report on that matter.