Speeches by Alexander.

“Perhaps the right hon. Member was not listening when I responded to questions from this side of the Chamber. There were multiple power supply points to the airport, but Heathrow took the decision that it needed to reconfigure the supply in the airport, as terminals 2 and 4 were very badly affected. It decided to put th…”

“I am very happy to give my hon. Friend that commitment.”

“Let me assure the hon. Lady that I am not putting all the country’s aviation eggs in one basket. At the moment we do not have proposals before us for a third runway at Heathrow. We will look at those proposals carefully when they are submitted and ensure that any decisions about either the airports national policy stat…”

“My hon. Friend has made a fair point, and I am happy to give him that undertaking.”

“This was an unprecedented event and Heathrow stood up its resilience plans swiftly. Within 18 hours of the fire starting, planes were once again landing at the airport. For an airport the size of Heathrow, that is no mean feat. It is right both that an internal review of the airport crisis management and resilience pla…”

“The relevant Energy Minister—my hon. Friend the Member for Rutherglen (Michael Shanks), who is sitting next to me—was nodding, which suggests to me that he would be happy to have such a meeting.”

“With permission, Mr Speaker, I wish to make a statement regarding the power outage, caused by a substation fire, that impacted on Heathrow airport operations on Friday 21 March. I begin by acknowledging the disruption to everyone affected by this incident. Many homes, schools and businesses temporarily lost power, some…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for the tone of his comments. I assure him and other Members of this House that I will do everything I can to keep them updated, and I will continue the engagement I have had with Heathrow since the incident first became known to me. I spoke to the chief executive of Heathrow on Frid…”

“I doubt that it necessarily follows that an expanded Heathrow that accommodated twice as many flights as it does currently would make an incident such as the one that we saw on Friday any more likely. This was an unprecedented fire of a significant scale. However, I can assure my hon. Friend that before making any deci…”

“I think they are already doing that, because the review of resilience that was announced by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster last July is looking at the subject in the context of our critical national infrastructure.”

“I am grateful to my hon. Friend, the Chair of the Transport Committee, for her remarks. The airports national policy statement is a site-specific document, but I will reflect on her suggestion of a wider airports strategy; I am sure that we will discuss it further when I am in front of her Committee in a couple of week…”

“I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his questions. The question of Heathrow expansion and this very rare—unprecedented—event are two entirely separate issues. He will be aware that the Government have invited Heathrow to bring forward proposals for a third runway, and we will review the airports national policy sta…”

“My right hon. Friend raises a fair point. I will ensure that we provide that information to him once we have reviewed the different reports that are going to be published over the next couple of months.”

“I can categorically say that it would not be right for anyone or any business to capitalise on this disruption. Whether airlines or hotels, I would expect organisations to be doing everything they can to support travellers who have been disrupted by this incident.”

“Improving performance is a top priority for this Government as we establish Great British Railways. We regularly meet managing directors of train operating companies and their Network Rail counterparts to demand action to raise standards. Great British Railways will reunite the management of track and train, and will m…”

“We have empowered local councils to tackle the highway maintenance backlog, which is the result of a decade of under-investment by the previous Government. We have made an immediate start by providing an extra £500 million next year, representing an increase of nearly 40% for most councils. We will end the pothole plag…”

“I understand that officials in my Department are speaking to Scottish colleagues, and I hope to be in a position to say more about that soon, potentially as part of the spending review.”

“I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for her question. I know she is a committed advocate for improvements to the road network in the north-east. I recognise the importance of Moor Farm and Seaton Burn roundabouts to her local area, and I assure her that both are being considered as part of a pipeline of projects for o…”

“I am not the sort of Secretary of State who would sit at my desk in Whitehall and instruct local authorities to spend certain amounts of money on certain roads. I expect local authorities to take strategic decisions based on where the investment is needed, and I will leave it to local leaders to make those decisions.”

“I would be very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to ensure that roads in his constituency and across London are maintained to an adequate standard. The increase of £500 million in this year’s allocation to highways maintenance represents an average 40% increase for local authorities. It will be making the difference, a…”