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Business of the House

It is touching that the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) and the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff) have cited the case for the procedure to include the extension of Crossrail to Reading. On mature reflection, the Minister may wish that his answer had addressed these points. The Department for Transport is consulting on safeguarding the route from Maidenhead to Reading in response to very strong lobbying from the business community and Reading Members of Parliament—we have established a cross-party consensus. Those of us who have an interest in seeing the Crossrail project proceed, but who are also concerned about its impact on existing high-speed services and freight lines and the roll-out to Reading, wonder why the instruction to the Select Committee is so prescriptive. I invite the Minister to open the door to wider discussions on the consequences of Crossrail, which all hon. Members want to approve in principle, because important details have not yet been examined. The hybrid Bill process is, by its nature, complex. The Select Committee will have about 12 months of detailed consideration to take on board all the points and concerns. Hon. Members are concerned that the Committee may be fettered by the tightly drawn terms of its instruction, on which we will vote today. I hope that the Minister will reflect on the concerns expressed by hon. Members who support the principle of Crossrail, who want Crossrail to work for the people of London, but who also want it to work for people who seek to commute into London from various constituencies to the west and the east. I hope that that has helped the Minister.