Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stewart Malcolm McDonald and Lord McLoughlin

Thursday 28th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

Yes. My hon. Friend makes a very good point: this is a matter not just for London airports, but for airports outside London and right across the country, which serve very important international connections.

[Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Glasgow South) (SNP)]

I hear what the Transport Secretary is saying about his engagement with airports, but this is also an issue for stadiums, railway stations and other places where the public gather in huge numbers. What discussions has he had with the widest possible range of stakeholders, including local authorities, on the use of drones?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I have updated the House on the issue addressed by the tabled question, namely aviation. Of course, there are wider issues and the Government keep them consistently under review.

[Stewart Malcolm McDonald]

I am grateful for that—even if it was not much of an answer, to be entirely honest. The Secretary of State also briefly touched on another very important issue relating to the threat that laser pens pose to airports across the United Kingdom. BALPA has called for all but the lowest-strength laser pens to be banned. What is his response to that?

[Mr McLoughlin]

As I informed the House a few moments ago, I met BALPA earlier this week. It has come forward with issues about laser pens. There is a bigger problem with laser pens, and much more evidence about the way in which they have been used. It is illegal to shine them in someone’s eyes, and there have been more prosecutions, but I am willing to take further action once we have reached agreement on the best way forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stewart Malcolm McDonald and Lord McLoughlin

Thursday 28th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Trains to London Bridge, and other Thameslink trains, are benefiting from a massive upgrade costing some £6.5 billion. Obviously there will be difficulties at certain stages of the line’s reconstruction, but once it is finished it will be a far superior line, and it will benefit from the new trains that will come into service in the spring.

[Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Glasgow South) (SNP)]

The proposals on emissions standards that were published yesterday by the European Commission give us a real opportunity to turn a corner and get to grips with an industry that has been circumventing environmental regulations for too long. Will the Secretary of State assure us that those proposals will not become a bargaining chip in the Prime Minister’s renegotiation, resulting in watered-down outcomes?

[Mr McLoughlin]

We want to consider the Commission’s proposals very carefully, and that is what we will do.

Airports Capacity

Debate between Stewart Malcolm McDonald and Lord McLoughlin

Monday 14th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr McLoughlin]

I should give one, just to put the record straight. The HS2 route has undergone considerable improvement, much of which my hon. Friend has campaigned for, and he has got his own way on what he wanted in his constituency.

[Stewart Malcolm McDonald (Glasgow South) (SNP)]

It is like something straight from “Yes Minister”. “What do we want?” “Airport expansion!” “When do we want it?” “At the appropriate juncture, in the fullness of time” —after umpteen inquiries, reports and working groups, and a cost of millions of pounds to the taxpayer, all for a by-election in Richmond Park. “He used to be indecisive, but now he’s not so sure.” Will the Government get on with it, as the country expects us to?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I am still waiting to hear—it should be such a simple, easy answer—what the SNP’s position is on this matter. Which scheme do SNP Members support? They are silent on it. They want everybody else to give their answers, so that once the decision is made they will attack it and say they would go down a different route. That seems to be the only point of the SNP in this Chamber: to wait for a decision to be made, then attack it. No wonder SNP Members are in such a difficult position today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Stewart Malcolm McDonald and Lord McLoughlin

Thursday 16th July 2015 Commons Chamber

[Stewart McDonald (Glasgow South) (SNP)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr Patrick McLoughlin)]

Today, Sir Peter Hendy takes over as the new chairman of Network Rail—he is someone with huge experience who helped keep London moving during the Olympics—to develop the proposals by the autumn on how to improve our vital rail upgrades. That programme will be carried out and will report to me by the autumn. I can also confirm today that Lord Adonis has agreed to become a new non-executive director at HS2 Ltd, bringing his wealth of experience and vision to the project and clearly demonstrating its truly cross-party support.

[Stewart McDonald]

Can the Secretary of State outline what steps are being taken to improve coastal protection along the west coast of Scotland?

[Mr McLoughlin]

I might need to write to the hon. Gentleman about that question and look at it in a bit more detail, because of all the things I had prepared for in these Transport questions, that was not one of them.