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Business of the House

Last weekend, the residents of Ramsbottom, Holcombe village, Holcombe Brook and Hawkshaw, in my constituency, were surprised to wake up and discover that they had been fingered by the former Conservative Government as a potential site for dumping the nation's radioactive waste. Given that residents in many parts of the country have been made aware of the list produced by Nirex, which was finally published under freedom of information legislation—more than 10 years too late—and given that our Government have a far more open and transparent approach to the problem of radioactive nuclear waste through the work of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, does my right hon. Friend think it timely to have a debate on the long-term storage of nuclear waste, in order to assess the progress of the Committee charged with looking at this issue?