Mr Robert Adley: Is my right hon. Friend aware that many of us who voted to support the Government in respect of the referendum clause last night did so with as much enthusiasm as that expressed by my hon. Friends who take the alternative point of view? On my substantive question, is my right hon. Friend aware that, due to the complexity and inadequate thought given to the clauses in the Railways Bill, the...
Mr Robert Adley: Leaving aside the rhetoric on both sides of the House about the strike, does my right hon. Friend agree that lack of investment on the west coast main line is having a deleterious effect on services? Is there any realistic likelihood, under his plans for the railways, of private sector investment in that line's infrastructure? Is my right hon. Friend further aware that I have written to him...
Mr Robert Adley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the arrangements he intends to make for the additional European parliamentary constituencies.
Mr Robert Adley: I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does he agree that the parliamentary boundary commissioners rightly enjoy an enviable reputation for impartiality? Will he ensure that a similar system is established to create the new constituencies, and give an assurance that twixt the initial announcement and implementation there will be ample time for representations to be made?
Mr Robert Adley: I have the honour to present a petition from more than 300 paid-up members of the Highcliffe branch of the Christchurch and East. Dorset Conservative Association who wish to express their grave concern about the Railways Bill. This is the tip of the iceberg. My political activists are worried that the Government's plans are ill conceived, will damage Britain's railways and will not increase...
Mr Robert Adley: I welcome this major investment in our railways, and I am particularly glad that my right hon. Friend has chosen a route that I first recommended nearly five years ago in my Conservative Political Centre book, "Tunnel Vision". Is my right hon. Friend certain that he will not find himself challenged in any way under section 42 of the Channel Tunnel Act 1987? Will environmental expenditure on...
Mr Robert Adley: Is not the answer to the question of the right hon. Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham) about why the Chinese are not responding as, I am sure, we would all hope, that the Governor produced his October proposals, which were supposed to be the basis of negotiation, unilaterally? That is what has caused offence in Beijing. Can my right hon. Friend confirm, lest there be any doubt, that the...
Mr Robert Adley: My right hon. Friend will know that some of us have watched our party struggle for more than 20 years with the problem of coming to terms with the situation. Is he aware that those of us who were not attracted by Lady Thatcher's regime will find his proposals a move back in the direction of compromise, towards trying to satisfy the aspirations of the Scottish people? Does he agree that this...
Mr Robert Adley: What, expressed as a percentage of rail investment, will be the investment figure two years hence, compared with the figure for the current year? Does my right hon. Friend realistically expect any private sector investment to be made in rail infrastructure in the next decade and is not Railtrack the creation of yet another nationalised industry, which unlike British Rail, will not be...
Mr Robert Adley: Does my right hon. Friend agree that if we take advantage of the developments in orbital two-stroke engine technology we need to be able to do so within the stable framework of the European Community? I recognise that there may be short-term disadvantages for other countries with our social chapter opt-out, but does my right hon. Friend agree that, in the long term, our membership of the...
Mr Robert Adley: In welcoming the announcement that my right hon. Friend made about the meeting last Thursday, may I ask him to press on with his discussions with our Community partners? Does he agree that the Community is in a very strong position to exercise significant influence in the IMO and, as member Governments are likely to be more responsive to environmental concerns than a rather remote body such...
Mr Robert Adley: Is not it necessary for any Transport Secretary to have a policy of investment in all forms of transport infrastructure? Is the Secretary of State not therefore assured of a welcome from dispassionate minded people for his statement this afternoon? Can he confirm that the A31 Ashley Heath junction in Dorset in my constituency is included in his scheme? Will he nevertheless bear in mind that...
Mr Robert Adley: Last week, some members of the Select Committee visited the networking office at Euston. We were told that if more than one operator ran trains on a piece of line, the long-hallowed advantage of being able to turn up and get on to a train would probably be lost, because everyone would have to have a piece of paper. Has the hon. Gentleman considered that, in the light of the fact that the east...
Mr Robert Adley: I remind my hon. Friend of those serving Stansted and Manchester airports.
Mr Robert Adley: I pay tribute to the memory of the late Sir Peter Allen, who will have been known to some of my colleagues in the House. I read in his obituary in The Times that, like me, he was a railway and steam train enthusiast. Like me, he would be described by my colleagues on the Front Bench as eccentric. Unlike me, he was chairman of ICI. Quite a few people are concerned about the Government's...
Mr Robert Adley: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr Robert Adley: On the question of freight and my right hon. Friend's powers to act immediately to implement what he has announced, my hon. Friend the Member for Hampshire, North-West (Sir D. Mitchell) and I share the hon. Gentleman's view that the Secretary of State has the power and we would urge him to use it immediately. Does the hon. Gentleman understand what I understood my right hon. Friend to be...
Mr Robert Adley: rose—
Mr Robert Adley: My right hon. Friend has announced six franchises. Can he say whether it will be within his policy to agree that these six, or seven, franchises can be operable as vertical franchises, if that is what the private sector wants?
Mr Robert Adley: Can my right hon. Friend say whether the strategy for the 1990s will include any proposals to ensure that national artefacts no longer required by their owners, if those owners are in the public sector, remain available to British museums? Is my hon. Friend aware that one of his predecessors kindly invited me some years ago to sit on the committee of the National Railway museum. The...
