Road Safety Bill
9:25 am
Viscount John Thurso (Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland (And Transport), Scotland; Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Liberal Democrat)
May I, too, welcome you to the chair, Mr. Hughes, and say that we look forward to deliberating on this Bill under your benign tutelage? I thank the Minister for his kind words. As the hon. Member for Christchurch said, we have become something of a team in transport matters, and our deliberations have been characterised by some sensible debates, which have enabled us, on occasion, to improve the Bill under consideration, and certainly to find out what the Government are proposing. I thank the Minister also for the briefing that he arranged with his officials, which I and other Opposition colleagues found useful.
As the Minister said, this is a Bill that all sides of the House generally support. It has some good measures. However, there are areas where it can usefully be strengthened, and we will see whether the Government look favourably on some of our suggestions. Some clauses may have consequences that need to be teased out, and we hope that the Minister will put on record exactly what the Government's intentions are.
We are content with the programme motion. We believe that there is sufficient time, and we hope that we will be able to get through the business and thoroughly consider the Bill in the time available.