Speeches by Glover.

“I welcome the Chief Secretary’s commitment to investing in my Oxfordshire constituency, and particularly in our science centres of Milton Park, Culham and Harwell campus. However, the commitment to the south east strategic reservoir option—SESRO—will be met with far more questions, given Thames Water’s track record. On…”

“I join hon. Members in thanking the Foreign Secretary for bringing the statement to the House, given that these matters are so rarely discussed. The United States has often played a key role in ending such conflicts or providing humanitarian support. To support his efforts with Secretary of State Rubio, will he ask for…”

“In Oxfordshire, the high needs of our accumulated deficit is expected to rise to £77.1 million by the end of 2025, and across England it is expected to rise to nearly £6 billion in the same period. Does the Minister agree that, in the long term, a shift towards inclusive education, early intervention and enhanced suppo…”

“8. What steps her Department is taking to improve support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.”

“The right hon. Gentleman outlined articulately how Government legislation can make a positive difference to our environment. Does he agree that as well as a relentless focus on housing targets, we should also have targets for amenities and for nature and green spaces, so that we can achieve lots of objectives and suppo…”

“I commend my hon. Friend for bringing the Bill before the House and for all her work to promote charity lotteries. Does she agree that, in addition to all the organisations she has listed in her constituency, the MS Therapy Centre in Milton Park, Chilton county primary school and the Letcombe Brook Project in my Oxford…”

“Laura, we touched a little bit on fares and ticketing. If I were to be cynical, if I had a pound for every time the industry or Government talked about reforming fares and ticketing, I could probably just about afford an All Line Rover. We have been told by a few Ministers that reforms to fares and ticketing do not nee…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I join my colleagues in commending my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Marie Goldman) on securing a debate on this important topic. I agree that it is good to see so many people here from the Labour and Liberal Democrat Benches but, as they say on Radio 4, i…”

“What you said in relation to open access passenger services sounds very reasonable. Speaking of customers, a lot of the open access operators have very high levels of customer satisfaction and have driven growth, but a recent letter from the Secretary of State to the ORR, I felt, had a somewhat ambivalent vibe in relat…”

“Yes. Lord Hendy, what role do you anticipate the Office of Rail and Road playing in the regulation of GBR?”

“Finally, I want to expand a little bit the earlier discussion about freight. A report published today by Rail Partners called “A Greener Track” suggests that rail freight costs have risen three times more than road since 2015. What role do you see ORR and GBR having in creating or reforming the regulatory environment t…”

“T2. The Local Government Association estimates that the Budget’s increases to employer national insurance contributions will cost local councils an extra £637 million per year. The Government’s funding settlement for councils in relation to that of £515 million will leave them with a gap, putting key services such as s…”

“My constituency has also seen significant population growth; it has grown by 35% in the past 20 years. New estates in Didcot, Great Western Park, Wantage, Kingsgrove, Highcroft in Wallingford and Wellington Gate in Grove have not all sought the opportunity to have solar panels on the new houses. Does the hon. Gentleman…”

“You have covered the last thing I was going to ask, so I will hand back to the Chair. There was a really interesting case study on the South Europe Atlantic line in France, the Tours to Bordeaux high-speed line. I have been looking into it. There were 10 years of planning, consultation and dialogue, but then they went …”

“I wonder if there is some learning from what you were saying about HS1 and the route selection for East West Rail. I declare that I did work for them five years ago. The challenge of East West Rail is that they seem to be doing what you have suggested in consulting on a number of route options for the new bit of railwa…”

“I would like to explore a little more some of the things you have been saying about learning from past mistakes, and what we can learn from other countries. I have three case studies in mind, some of which you have mentioned. In terms of what you said about HS1, which I know you were heavily involved with, I will out m…”

“You make a really good point there. There are two things that are interesting in what you said. First, all the evidence suggests it is absolutely right to say that you have to do significantly more carrot before you do stick in order to get that modal shift. Secondly, a lot of the European cities that we are talking ab…”

“And in some cases brought in new, modern ones as well. Sir John Armitt: Exactly. Inevitably, to take the Edinburgh tram, we tend to be scarred by our experience of what can go wrong with the cost. To be fair, it is not the cost of the tram. It tends to be the cost of the infrastructure. As soon as you start digging up …”

“It is very commendable to see that you are following through in your answer in terms of the importance of devolving powers. To probe a little bit on some of the things you said, yes, accepted, trams are more expensive than buses. If we look at comparable European cities, tram systems tend to dominate a lot more. Every …”

“Turning more to urban and suburban transport, although I suspect we will come back to HS2 at some point, your second national infrastructure assessment identified four key city regions where you feel initial investment should be prioritised. We have discussed some of those already. How do you think the funding for thos…”