Mr Richard Holden

Would the hon. Member accept that the Bill allows for exactly what we see in France, which is toll roads across the entire strategic road network?

I have read the Bill. Clauses 33 and 81 could lead to road charging schemes right across the country. The Minister seems not to have read his own Bill. What safeguards are there? How much will his pla

No, I am finishing my speech. What on earth are the Government doing? Where are the safeguards against higher charges for motorists? The Minister does not know.

Nowhere in this legislation is there any talk of the exact price that people will have to pay to cross the river. There is no idea of who is going to build the crossing, the cost of it or how much peo

I thank the hon. Member—my occasional squash partner—for asking that question; he often beats me at squash. We are not opposed to tolls, per se—we have had them on the existing lower Thames crossing a

The last Government fought tooth and nail through the courts to deliver the scheme and get the planning consents all the way through. I think the hon. Member should take note of that. This is not some