Crossrail Bill
9:00 am
Tom Harris (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Glasgow South, Labour)
I beg to move,
That if proceedings on the Crossrail Bill are not completed at this day’s sitting, the Committee do meet—
(a) on Thursdays when the House is sitting at 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m., and
(b) on Tuesdays when the House is sitting at 10.30 a.m. and 4.00 p.m.
I welcome you to the Chair, Lady Winterton. I am sure that it will be a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the length of this Committee. Although I have served on many Public Bill Committees, this is the first that I have led on behalf of the Government. In that respect, I am something of a Public Bill Committee virgin. I trust that you will be gentle with me in the sittings ahead.
I also welcome all hon. Members to the Committee. I particularly welcome the hon. Member for Northampton, South and my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, South who were members of the Crossrail Select Committee and whose agreement to serve on this Committee says a great deal about their personal courage and their devotion to this subject. If in future we see them on “Celebrity Mastermind”, I suspect that we know what their specialist subject will be.
The motion will allow the Committee to meet at 10.30 am and 4 pm on Tuesdays and 9 am and 1 pm on Thursdays. The order of consideration will allow for the consideration of schedules immediately after the consideration of the relevant clauses. For example, schedule 1 will be considered immediately after clause 1. I am sure that no hon. Member wishes to see the Bill unnecessarily delayed. Bearing in mind that it has already been the subject of 21 months of Select Committee scrutiny, to which some hon. Members present can attest, I confirm that the Government are happy to offer however much time is required for consideration by this Committee.
Copies of my recent letters relating to the Bill and in some cases to the project itself are available from the table in the centre of the room.