Max Wilkinson

Thank you, Mr. Efford; I will speak for no longer than an hour. There is much to reflect on. I am grateful to all colleagues for turning up to this important debate, and to the Minister for addressing a number of the points raised. I appreciate there were probably about 35 questions raised during various speeches, including some from myself. Will the hon. Lady take time later to work with the Rail Minister on responses to my questions about everything from the hyper-local, such as the Honeybourne line, up to the bigger picture stuff around wi-fi connectivity and the delays that Cheltenham passengers suffer at Gloucester? The main thing to come out of the Minister’s response is that there is still an awful lot to play for. A key point that I took from what she said was that although the station is designed to take all the trains stopping there, including every service from the west, that need not be the case. That is different from what we are generally being briefed on as Members. When we talk about the technical studies that need to go into the future infrastructure that might link into the overground services elsewhere, there is an impact on timings, on the public debate and on the Government’s willingness to fund the studies and the infrastructure. We are now in a period of uncertainty about whether all of the Great Western main line trains will indeed be stopping at Old Oak Common. The opportunity that is being sold by the rail industry, and has been sold by the Government in the very recent past, is thrown into doubt if there is uncertainty about whether all the trains will stop at Old Oak Common, so it seems there is quite a bit of thinking to be done. I appreciate that the Government are in an imperfect position here. We all are. I suggest that work on the technical studies into the opportunities and economic benefits that we might get in our constituencies and that the nation as a whole might accrue needs to be picked up as soon as possible. I thank the Minister for her response today. I look forward to hearing more in due course. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the impact of Old Oak Common station on rail services to the West and Wales.