Clause 27
10:45 am
John Healey (Minister of State (Local Government), Department for Communities and Local Government; Wentworth, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman is right. However, we discussed in both the evidence and the scrutiny sittings that BRS in the case of Crossrail and London is an essential element, without which the funding package for the Crossrail project would not stand up and that project would come to a juddering halt. That will be the consequence if this House and the other place do not ultimately approve the Bill’s provisions. I have not heard the concept of additionality persuasively contested in the case of Crossrail. The importance of that certainty and confidence in making such big projects work needs to be balanced against the hon. Gentleman’s concern, and the way to deal with that is to make the clause’s powerful provision properly time-limited.
In other words, the special introductory provision can be used only up until 1 April 2012. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will accept that we are trying to strike the balance between not stopping big projects such as Crossrail in their tracks, where a considerable amount of work has appropriately gone on, and allowing what some might regard as a potential loophole to the principle of additionality for BRS in any future projects.