Member

All my amendment would do is, in effect, give the Government the ability in the future, while pursuing the policy that is in their manifesto, to have the option to go elsewhere if they need to. The Minister has told us that, although we are debating this Bill, it cannot in his view be amended because of future legislation that the House has not even considered—legislation that establishes Great British Railways and says that Great British Railways will run all the railways, with track, trains and everything all in one place. That being the case, one wonders what the nature of the debate on these amendments can be. We are being told that future legislation will bind what is possible under this legislation. That is not a wise way to proceed. When they write legislation, Governments should try to build in flexibility for the future, because, precisely as the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, said, we do not know what the future holds and Governments do not know what the future holds.