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Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Bill

My Lords, independent regulation means regulation based on assessment and study of the costs associated with the assets. The Minister referred to the water industry and the water regulator. However, there were horror stories about the amount of capital taken out of the water industry, which was privatised almost debt-free and now has mountains of debt because it was not properly regulated. As the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, said, we have here a regulator who can and will set charges. I have no confidence in a charging regime that is cooked up between Network Rail and officials in the department. It has to be tested in the market independently. I will read what the Minister said but I plead with him to discuss this within government because I believe that the whole speech he read out is totally inconsistent with what we have been told elsewhere. I have no doubt that we will return to the matter at Third Reading and we shall require change. With that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 1 [Powers of Secretary of State]: