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Crossrail Bill [Instruction] (No. 5)

I hope that London Members will forgive me if I begin with an admission. When I was elected two years ago, I had not given a great deal of thought to Crossrail. I have to say that it is not a subject that comes up often on the doorsteps in Leicester, South, nor does it often feature in the columns of the Leicester Mercury. During those two years I have learnt quite a lot about Crossrail, but when I first went into the Lobby to vote for the Bill’s Second Reading, I was unaware of what a major part it would play in my life and the lives of many other Members who were voting on that occasion—and who subsequently found what appeared at the time to be a rather innocuous card in their post just before Christmas 2005, informing them that they had been appointed members of the Select Committee on the Crossrail Bill. As I have said in the past, we might have liked rather more explanation of what membership of the Committee would mean before signing up for it, but under the wise guidance of my hon. Friend the. Member for Mansfield (Mr. Meale), we have learnt a good deal about Crossrail since then. As the Minister reminded us, we have received some 450 petitions on the subject, and as my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield reminded us, in some weeks the Committee has met more than eight times. As some of my colleagues have remarked, it has sometimes felt almost like a life sentence. One of them observed that it felt like cruel and unusual punishment, and it has been suggested that Committee Room 5 is the parliamentary equivalent of a gulag. I was delighted to hear from the Minister today—and I suppose it was inevitable that someone would use the analogy—that there was, at last, light at the end of the tunnel. Given all our discussion about Reading, another analogy occurred to me, from the ““The Ballad of Reading Gaol?. Perhaps what we are seeing is not light at the end of the tunnel, but"““that little tent of blue""Which prisoners call the sky?." None the less, it is good news that we are approaching the end of our period of incarceration. We shall be producing our report before too long, and we are beginning to see some results from our labour. With that in mind, I welcome the further instruction to the Committee. Members, particularly my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr. Raynsford), have spoken of the case for a station at Woolwich. I join others in paying tribute to the campaign that my right hon. Friend and neighbouring Members have waged to ensure that there is a station there. It became clear to Committee members from all parties that the case for a Woolwich station was overwhelming. As my right hon. Friend pointed out, the cost-benefits analysis shows that it is far stronger than not just the case for the scheme as a whole, but the case for many elements of it. It is very pleasing that the Government have accepted the logic of the arguments with which he and others persuaded the Committee. I am sure that all Committee members are pleased that the Government have agreed to instruct us to consider a measure that will facilitate construction of a station at Woolwich. I note that continued work to develop a financial package that will make that possible, and I hope the Minister will reassure us again that the Government will continue to engage in a process of ensuring that such a package is developed. It is a question not just of making a station possible, but of ensuring that one is constructed. As my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield has pointed out, if the motion for the instruction is passed we shall be required to consider further petitions against a station at Woolwich. Notwithstanding anything that my hon. Friend or I may say today, we will keep an open mind in considering such petitions, and will of course give due weight to any arguments against the station. That said, however, I am sure that—as my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield has indicated—Committee members will welcome the instruction and look forward to considering the proposal. As other Members have said, we look forward not just to this particular instruction, but to a favourable passage for the Bill. Over the past two years, we have learnt much about the benefits of Crossrail. It will give enormous advantages not just to London, but to the infrastructure of the nation as a whole. I am convinced that the building of this important link in the transport infrastructure of the capital, and its development in a way that will benefit the whole nation, is as relevant to those of us in Leicester and other provincial cities as it is to those with London constituencies. While I am sure that my colleagues, like me, look forward to receiving the instruction, we must look beyond that to the development of a financial package that will make possible the development of Crossrail in its entirety.