Contributions
565 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDRailways Bill (Eleventh sitting)Amendment 174 will provide greater clarity for all parties that the agreement GBR is obliged to have under clause 61(4) can be made in advance in a contract or other document…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Eleventh sitting)I thank the hon. Members for South West Devon and for West Dorset for their contributions. I remain of the view that a unified system under GBR will plan and deliver an…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Eleventh sitting)I will briefly turn back to the debate on the previous clauses; because the Opposition spokesperson asked me to provide an example of the motion of consent in general as it…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)I thank the hon. Lady for giving me an opportunity to piggyback on her response to the Lib Dem spokesperson, the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage. I want merely to say that,…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)I believe that hon. Members on both sides of the Committee have expressed all the points on these amendments, and I have nothing further to add at this stage.05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)How can I top that? I am not going to try. This group of amendments concerns performance schemes, which, as hon. Members are aware, are designed to improve the performance of the…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)The right hon. Gentleman pre-empts my later comments about the role of the ORR in this process. On the principle of whether GBR should be able to design a performance scheme for…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)Clause 67 provides a route of appeal to the ORR for a person aggrieved by a GBR decision about access, capacity allocation and charging, including decisions made under those…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)I thank the right hon. Member for that contribution, because he gets to the nub of the principles. GBR will be held accountable through compliance with its duties as set out in…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)I beg to move amendment 175, in clause 69, page 39, line 25, leave out “17(1)” and insert “17”. This amendment and amendment 176 restrict the power of the Office of Rail and Road…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)Amendments 175 to 183 and 186 will ensure that GBR can enter into connection contracts with adjacent infrastructure managers and facility owners. A connection contract is a formal…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)Amendments 203 to 205 seek to do two things: to remove the Secretary of State’s ability to make regulations relating to the appeals process; and to remove the Secretary of State,…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)I thank the shadow Minister and others for their contributions. It is a small point, but the shadow Minister raised international obligations and treaties, and I want to reassure…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for that intervention. I am not arguing that stakeholders are not valid in raising concerns about the issues: they are. I am seeking to ameliorate their…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)Me too, Mrs Hobhouse. Thank you for placing such confidence in me; we will see in due course if it is justified. I thank the shadow Minister for speaking to amendment 222, which…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)I beg to move amendment 271, in clause 75, page 43, line 23, at end insert— “(2A) In section 55 (orders for securing compliance), after subsection (7C) insert— ‘(7D) The Office of…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)I will first speak to Government amendment 271 and clause 75 as drafted, which is essential to ensure that the accountability arrangements for GBR reflect its status as a publicly…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)I thank the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage for his amendment, which would retain the ORR’s power to fine GBR in the event of a licence breach. He will be pleased to hear that…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)Clause 76 updates the Office of Rail and Road’s information duties by inserting a new section into the Railways Act 1993 under which the ORR must proactively publish documents and…05 Feb 2026HANSARDRailways Bill (Twelfth sitting)The intention of these changes is not to reduce transparency, but to modernise what is published and how. The new duty focuses on determinations under the Railways Act 2005 and…05 Feb 2026