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London Underground

I apologise for having to intervene in the hon. Gentleman's speech, but I think I should put the record straight, because the interpretation placed on my remarks by my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire (David Taylor) simply is not correct. I merely observed that it was wrong to draw general conclusions about the PPP on the basis of the specific failure of Metronet. My own experience, like that of a number of others, is that the performance of Tube Lines in terms of efficient management and improvement of its service is generally satisfactory, and I think that that too should be taken into account in any balanced and non-dogmatic appraisal of the PPP.