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Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

moved Amendment No. 1: 1: Clause 1, page 1, line 4, leave out ““or railway services on it”” The noble Lord said: The amendment is also in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw. Like many of the amendments, it is a probing amendment. It is about the role of the development agreement and seeks advice from the Minister on its point, operation and structure. Getting the development agreement was necessary for the construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, which has been a great success, but I question whether it is appropriate to widen it to cover the operations of either the infrastructure or the operator, Eurostar. An argument could be made about whether the department’s taking some of the functions of the Office of Rail Regulation as they are applied to the rest of the railway—this will come up on other amendments—complies with Article 4 of directive 1991/14 and the Railway Infrastructure (Access and Management) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/3049; I will give its full title only once. The infrastructure manager and the train operator both have financial links to the department. That is because it would be the department, rather than the rail regulator as on the rest of the railway, which would approve the charges for using the infrastructure and the arrangements for access to it. My understanding is—perhaps the Minister could confirm it—that the Government are selling the UK share of Eurostar and the infrastructure of the high-speed line, which is called High Speed 1 now. They will also sell off some of the land—I do not think that we are really concerned about that. It is clear that the Government are seeking the highest price for these sales. It is in Department for Transport’s interest to sell these companies in such a way that it can say to them, ““We are going to be the regulator of access to and ability to charge for use of the rail link, so that will reduce any regulatory risk that you will take when you become infrastructure manager””. It believes, therefore, that it will get a higher price. In other words, the Government will say to them, ““You can fix the charges; you’ve got to fix them in accordance with the regulations””. The regulations allow higher charges for links such as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link under Article 8.2 of directive 2001/14. However, there are certain conditions attached to that. It is probably contrary to the intentions of the EU legislation, if not the actual text, that the regulatory body—in this context, the department—has had a financial interest in the sale of the two companies. Before on subsequent amendments we go into more detail about the whys and wherefores of where this might end up, I ask my noble friend whether the Government have checked with the European Commission that there is no conflict with EU legislation in this proposed sale of the UK part of Eurostar and/or the infrastructure manager, coupled with the continuing regulatory oversight of the companies sold by the department and the possible financial links between the sale price and the future regulation by the department rather than by an independent regulator. I think that there probably is a conflict. It looks slightly dodgy. As I shall say in moving many other amendments, the answer is for the complete infrastructure to be regulated, like the rest of the railway, by the Office of Rail Regulation under various sections of the Railways Act—it started off as Section 4 of the 1993 Act, as amended. From my wide inquiries and discussions around the industry, including with people who work for High Speed 1, people would much prefer that proposal. It would be interesting to hear what my noble friend had to say about the role of the development agreement, the sale and whether the Government’s view is that it complies with European legislation—whether they have actually checked with the European Commission. I beg to move.