Speeches by Mather.

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Definition of Relevant Land) (Amendment) Order 2025. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. The draft order was laid before the House on Monday 8 September. Railway operators currently use a combination o…”

“No piece of legislation can deal with all the emissions that we are facing through challenges in the aviation sector. That is why we have this comprehensive package of measures to make decarbonising aviation while allowing passengers to fly at an affordable rate a reality. The hon. Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Bri…”

“The hon. Member raises a very important point. We need to ensure that the benefits of the Act are felt across the length and breadth of our United Kingdom, and that includes engaging with our colleagues in the Northern Ireland Assembly. I turn to new clause 2. We do not anticipate a substantial impact on SAF production…”

“Before I turn to the amendments before us, I would like to thank the many hon. Members who have made considered and helpful contributions. This legislation has been long in the making, and few have been more central in bringing it to fruition than my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East …”

“My hon. Friend’s point is very well made. What has struck me throughout this debate is the access opportunities for the constituents of every Member in the room. Members have also pointed to the importance of modal shift and the impact on freight and our decarbonisation ambitions. We have also heard about the impact on…”

“I think the Conservative spokesperson, the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham, was right to say that competitive practices, where they work, should be encouraged, and that has been the focus of this debate. But the broader perspective, which came out in the debate around the Government in 2015 selling their stake i…”

“Of course there is open access ability through these international rail links, which is an important thing to point to. What I find challenging about the assertions that the hon. Member made in his winding-up speech is the notion that some sort of perfect free market competition existed in our rail system prior to the …”

“Well, I think it is important to note that this Government are not fixated on ideological dogmatism in this space. Where competition works and can offer tangible benefits to local people in Kent and across the United Kingdom, we will of course proceed with it.”

“Please forgive me. I learn something new every day in this role. The hon. Gentleman is right to mention how many debates have landed on some of these themes over the years as we have wrangled with these questions. It is earnestly hoped, from the Government’s perspective, that facilitating competition and greater access…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Helena Dollimore) for securing this important debate. I commend her for her thoughtful remarks and continued advocacy on behalf of her constituents and the south-east more widely. She argued powerfull…”

“It is an interesting question about how proposed port development intersects with the responsibilities of local authorities, but I think that this document is here to offer a very clear signal to the sector that an increase in port capacity, which will very often mean a concurrent increase in the usage of land, is requ…”

“That is a very interesting question. Of course, it is incumbent on DfT Ministers, as a group, to ensure that we have a modern and resilient transport network to be able to reconcile ourselves with any potential increase in capacity. The revised NPS makes specific reference to acknowledging the kind of increase in uniti…”

“We have a formidable body of work to get on with as an operational Department, whether that is reforming our bus network, making sure that our train infrastructure is where it should be and challenges and opportunities to come on maritime and aviation, which sit within my portfolio. But I have every confidence that we …”

“As it stands, the NPS document does stress that, wherever possible, with increased development you should look for opportunities to improve modal shift. That is with a particular emphasis on the issues raised by Mr Glover about congestion on the road network, so I believe it is sufficiently clear in that regard. That d…”

“That is an incredibly important question, and I did hear it come up in the first panel of witnesses. The first thing I would say—this reverts to the question of what sits within the NPS and what does not, and how you keep a document focused—is that the first line of defence for port operators on this front is making th…”

“We work very closely with other Departments to have conversations about where NPS documents could affect port operations. Where needed, those other NPSs can refer to the relevance of the NPS as part of their work. I would point to a different legislative mechanism addressing this issue. The Planning and Infrastructure …”

“By putting in that new review cycle, you will have more current referencing of the documents against one another. That can stress where ports need to be absolutely integral to considerations of other large-scale projects. An interesting philosophical question has been raised by some of the Committee’s discussion today:…”

“Ports are clearly an absolutely integral part of the supply chain in the construction, operation and maintenance of offshore wind. In earlier questions, we have covered how our ambitions for those things need to dovetail with one another and sit within a unified strategic programme. The revised NPS makes it clear that …”

“There is a broader point around the Government’s growth ambitions, whereby designation of offshore wind as a CNP shows support for that form of primary development. That calls for development of the requisite port infrastructure to support it, so, in a sense, these two things dovetail together already.”

“What I would say is that, through port masterplanning, you get the opportunity to do genuine community engagement from the very earliest stages. It means that you can work through the mitigation hierarchy from the outset, pre-empt justified objections and work through them in relation to different projects. There is a …”