Clause 43
Crossrail Bill
11:45 am
Tom Harris (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Glasgow South, Labour)
I agree with the hon. Gentleman. It would not be appropriate or justifiable simply to say that because the clause has a precedent that alone justifies its existence in subsequent legislation, which is why I want to explain why we wish to follow that precedent.
The 1996 Act is the closest legislative comparison we have to the Crossrail project. It was a hybrid Bill that introduced a multi-billion pound infrastructure project that was, at the time, the largest civil engineering project in Europe, as Crossrail will be when it is under construction. It is therefore justifiable to consider the precedent of the 1996 Act. It was robust legislation that, crucially, worked, which is what we want the Bill to do. However, I accept the hon. Gentleman’s point that precedent alone is not justification.
Subsection (2) allows the Secretary of State further to transfer to herself or a nominated undertaker any of the powers or duties previously transferred from a railway operator. If subsection (2) were deleted, as proposed by the amendment, those powers or duties, after being transferred, could not be transferred again. That would adversely affect cases in which the same land was needed for works by different nominated undertakers, which is entirely possible—I would say likely—especially in relation to construction sites.
The result would be that when the first nominated undertaker handed back land so that the second nominated undertaker could undertake his work, the Secretary of State would not be able to ensure that the powers and duties of the original railway operator transferred with the land. That would be an unsatisfactory outcome, to say the least. It would not be in the interests of the continued proper management of the railway. I hope that that is explanation enough for the hon. Member for Wimbledon.