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Crossrail Bill [Instruction] (No. 5)

That is a valid question, but I am not able at this early stage of the negotiation to give any details in respect of what mechanism might be used to identify those particular benefits. I say again, however, that I have confidence that the various partners will be able to come up with an appropriate mechanism that will have widespread support among the business community in the Woolwich area where the station will be built. I have received some inspiration that causes me to clarify what I said earlier about the Crossrail costings. I suggested that the sums of £15 billion and £16 billion were calculated at today’s prices, but they are in fact costs of the day rather than costs of today; in other words, they are costs that will be incurred at the time that Crossrail is built, rather than based on today’s prices. I hope that that clarification does not confuse matters any further. I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Mr. Meale) for his courtesy and devotion to the task that has been before him for the past year and a half. He described me and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State as men of vision—I wonder if he would care to put that in writing. We are grateful to him and every member of his Committee for the dedication that they have shown in undertaking their task. He has chaired the Committee with a distinction and level of professionalism that we would expect from him. He says that the Committee will not prejudge the Woolwich issue, which goes without saying. I know that the final stages of the Bill will be carried out in the professional manner that we have come to expect from my hon. Friend. My hon. Friend the Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) referred to the Secretary of State’s role. He has never argued against the point that a Woolwich Crossrail station would be of benefit to the local Woolwich economy, and I hope that my hon. Friend will recognise the personal efforts that my right hon. Friend has made to try to secure this deal. My hon. Friend talked about the importance of bus links to Woolwich. The Labour Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, is committed to public transport, and I am sure that he can alleviate that concern by working with Transport for London. My hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, South (Sir Peter Soulsby) talked entertainingly about the role of the Committee. Now that Committee members are close to emerging once again into the daylight, blinking at the strength of the sun, I want again to pay tribute to him and the other Committee members for their outstanding work. I suspect that from now on when the Whips hand him a white card asking him to serve on any Committee, he might treat it with more suspicion than he previously would have done. Crossrail will benefit London, and it will also benefit the south-east and the United Kingdom as a whole. It will significantly increase the capacity of the rail network into and across London and it will relieve congestion and overcrowding on the existing national rail and underground networks. It will meet the substantial growth in demand for travel in the capital that is expected over coming decades. It will also improve accessibility. Crossrail will provide improved east-west rail access into and across London from the east and south-east regions. It will support local and national Government policy for economic development and regeneration, particularly in the Lea valley and Thames Gateway. It will also significantly enhance public transport access to Heathrow airport and allow Liverpool Street station to handle many more passengers to and from Stansted airport. It will facilitate the—