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Local Transport

The hon. Gentleman is right. That causes massive inconvenience to the west, but it also causes massive inconvenience along the north-west main line because Reading is also part of that network. As I have said, it is very much a national hub. The funding process for the Reading station project is very complicated, very long-winded and extremely bureaucratic, and I find it impossible to understand fully. Funding should be transparent and understandable, but it clearly is not. The Government are playing fast and loose with transport planning and funding, and they should step back from the profoundly undemocratic course that they are taking.