Bill Wiggin (Shadow Minister, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Leominster, Conservative)

Whether she plans to permit longer heavier vehicles on some roads; and if she will make a statement.

Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Bolton West, Labour)

With permission, Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Gwyneth Dunwoody, who died last week. It is on occasions such as these that her absence will be sorely felt. Gwyneth had a passion for social justice, was incredibly knowledgeable about transport issues, as was clear from her chairmanship of the Transport Committee, and always made pertinent, if sometimes mischievous, contributions to debates. I am sure that the House will agree that Gwyneth was a truly outstanding parliamentarian and a great servant of the people. She will be sadly missed in all parts of this House.

In respect of Question 1, I am yet to receive the research report on this subject, but I have no plans to allow so-called super-lorries on UK roads.

Bill Wiggin (Shadow Minister, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Leominster, Conservative)

I served on the Transport Committee under Gwyneth Dunwoody, and I think that she would appreciate the Secretary of State's comments.

Rail freight groups estimate that every tonne of freight carried by rail saves about 80 per cent. of the carbon emissions that that freight would have generated if it had been transported by road. Why have the Government abandoned their target to increase rail freight by 80 per cent. by 2010?

Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Bolton West, Labour)

The hon. Gentleman completely misunderstands the facts of the case. In fact, last year, we invested £17 million in removing 1 million lorry journeys from UK roads. We are committed to building on that success and, in the past year, we announced the single biggest package of investment in rail freight infrastructure for decades—£150 million. Rail freight has already gone up by 50 per cent. We are committed to a review, leading to a Green Paper that examines the transport challenges for the UK economy. As part of that, we will perform a specific piece of work to review the contribution that freight can make to our economic success.

Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow, Labour)

Will the Minister explain to me where the fairness is in letting foreign hauliers use our roads free of charge when our hauliers go to the continent and have to pay £7 a day?

Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Bolton West, Labour)

My hon. Friend makes a valid point about whether there is fair, or indeed unfair, competition on British roads. I am completely committed to ensuring a level playing field for UK hauliers and foreign hauliers. It was absolutely right that we considered the so-called vignette scheme, which proposed a daily charge for non-British lorries that use UK roads, although even the haulage industry decided that that was probably too complex and costly to implement. However, I am stepping up significantly enforcement against hauliers on road safety grounds, and have just announced additional investment of £24 million to ensure that there are no infringements of road safety rules.

Malcolm Moss (North East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

May I make a plea to the Secretary of State not to allow any longer heavier vehicles on the A14 through Cambridgeshire, which has one of the worst accident records in the country, with 52 fatalities in the past 10 years alone? The latest, only three weeks ago, in which a heavy lorry killed a young single mother, was highlighted in a campaign by Cambridge News. Will the Minister undertake to prioritise all the Cambridgeshire A14 improvements so that heavier lorries can make safe passage through Cambridgeshire from the east coast ports to the midlands and the north?

Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Bolton West, Labour)

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that safety should be a key consideration when deciding whether road improvement schemes should go ahead. That is one of the issues that we will consider in determining whether the A14 is a priority for additional investment. We are reviewing all our road schemes and intend shortly to make an announcement on which will be priorities.

Stephen Ladyman (South Thanet, Labour)

May I associate myself with my right hon. Friend's comments about Gwyneth Dunwoody? She was a tough cookie, but she was our tough cookie. She will be very much missed.

Mr. Moss does not seem to realise that it is Conservative party policy to allow longer heavier lorries on the roads of Great Britain. Will my right hon. Friend think very carefully before she allows that, because they will almost certainly be taken through our rural villages causing untold damage?

Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Bolton West, Labour)

My hon. Friend takes a huge interest in this subject, and I know that he has a track record of considering the case for longer heavier vehicles. He makes a pertinent point about the Conservatives' policy, and I have a huge amount of sympathy with his points. We should be concerned about congestion and road safety and, on environmental grounds, we should think about the most effective way of moving freight around this country. That is why I have said that I would need a huge amount of persuasion to allow so-called super-lorries on British roads.

John Leech (Shadow Minister, Transport; Manchester, Withington, Liberal Democrat)

What assessment has the Secretary of State made of the financial implications for road maintenance of allowing longer heavier lorries on to our roads?

Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Bolton West, Labour)

We have taken a long detailed look at the issues, not just in government, but through our work with the road haulage industry, to see whether it would be possible to introduce a scheme that would take account of the infrastructure and maintenance costs for British roads. The study concluded that it would not make sense to introduce such a scheme within the current framework of EU legislation; it would be too complex and costly to introduce, and the benefits would not exceed the costs.

There are alternative ways of ensuring that British hauliers do not suffer from unfair competition. I am determined to ensure that they do not, and the key to that is considering the impact on road safety. We need to ensure that there are no incentives for non-UK hauliers to break the rules. That is why enforcement is so important and it is why we have stepped up significantly the level of enforcement against hauliers who break the rules—indeed, we have doubled it in the past year.

Chris Bryant (PPS (Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC (Leader of the House of Commons)), Leader of the House of Commons; Rhondda, Labour)

One of the problems with the larger lorries already allowed on British roads is that they use not only the slow lane on motorways or dual carriageways, but often overtake, sometimes sandwiching smaller cars. Will the Secretary of State consider rolling out throughout the whole UK the pilot that has been introduced in one part of the country so that, as in other European countries, lorries may drive only in the slow lane?

Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Bolton West, Labour)

My hon. Friend makes an absolutely excellent point. I am determined to ensure that rather than automatically jumping to the conclusion that extra capacity is needed on British roads, we think first and foremost about the best use of our existing network. That might mean bringing the hard shoulder into use, and if we decide to do so, we should think about how that extra space is used. One possibility is that we reserve it for car-share lanes, but we could also think about whether crawler lanes might be appropriate for longer heavier vehicles. We will review, motorway by motorway, the use of extra capacity to ensure that it is used to best effect.

Robert Goodwill (Shadow Minister, Transport; Scarborough & Whitby, Conservative)

On 19 November, the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Jim Fitzpatrick, told me that this already overdue report would be published in three months. It is now six months later, and people are starting to wonder whether someone is sitting on it. The Conservative party has not come to a view on longer heavier vehicles, but the evidence in the report might help us to do so. Will the Secretary of State at least publish the evidence, even if she cannot reach her own conclusions?

Ruth Kelly (Secretary of State, Department for Transport; Bolton West, Labour)

I have already made it clear that this is a complex issue. The report should be published in a matter of months, if not weeks, but it certainly should be published before the summer recess, when everyone in the House will have the opportunity to determine their view on longer heavier vehicles. I have already said that I would need a huge amount of persuasion that super-lorries are the answer to congestion on our roads, but I look forward to hearing any policy pronouncement of any kind from the Conservatives on congestion.