Schedule 3 - Abolition of Rail Regulator: Savings, &c. Question proposed, That this schedule be the Third schedule to the Bill.
Railways and Transport Safety Bill
10:30 am
Mrs Anne McIntosh (Vale of York, Conservative)
I am sorry, but I find the matter extraordinary. Savings to me are savings. I am a Scot and I know what savings are. If one saves money, one saves money; if one spends money, one does not save. I find it extraordinary that the term should be included in the Bill. My experience is limited and humble, and I bow to the years of experience of the hon. Member for Bath. I do not see why the term is in the Bill. No
wonder we have such difficulty applying Acts of Parliament when they say something that patently is not meant.
Reverting to paragraph 5(3), my mind has not been put at rest. Assuming that the present regulator serves his term of office, I see no grounds for compensation: the Minister has not given an adequate explanation. The hon. Member for Bath went further in raising a worst-case scenario of the present rail regulator going off in a huff and resigning before the legislation comes into force. The Bill will have to run its course through both Houses of Parliament and receive Royal Assent. It cannot be hurried along because due parliamentary process is necessary. The Government have not explained adequately what might happen in the interim. It seems odd to put a person in place to perform the functions of the rail regulator for only a year or nine or six months. We shall let the matter rest for the moment, but we shall return to it in due course.
Question put and agreed to.
Schedule 3 agreed to.