Speeches by Aquarone.

“Thank you. There was enthusiastic nodding, but I wanted to get it in verbally. That is great.”

“There is not an indication of urgency or priority in there; just some indication and foresight would be very helpful.”

“Thank you. And can we confirm that the publication of the draft of the licence will be visible before the end of the passage of the Bill through Parliament?”

“We have heard a bit about where GBR is going to be and what sort of people will run it, and there have been some clues, as my colleague mentioned. The practical reality, as we have seen throughout the inquiry so far, is that the Bill itself will contain relatively little detail about how GBR will work. One of the thing…”

“Don’t take this as a criticism—we have talked a lot about where we are going and less about how we are getting there, and that is reflective of the balance of detail in the Bill itself—but I would like to push gently for clarification on the question of the draft licence publication. I know the consultation is due in 2…”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Clive Jones) on securing the debate. He is a truly committed campaigner on cancer care. Over previous decades, we have managed to achieve great progress on cancer care and survival. Many cancers now have high survival rates and straightforward detection and treatm…”

“I come here in the Christmas spirit, with both my nice list and my naughty list. On the nice list are, of course, you, Madam Deputy Speaker, Mr Speaker and the other Deputy Speakers for your work over the past year; all the House staff who support us, feed us and keep us safe; and the rest of the parliamentary communit…”

“I draw the attention of the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as a serving county councillor. Why has the Minister given Norfolk Conservatives a route to chicken out of their impending electoral doom? Will she tell me why the Government did not support my amendment to the English Devolu…”

“The hon. Gentleman may know that in “Emma” Jane Austen said that Cromer in my constituency was “the best of all the sea-bathing places.” Does he agree that if Jane Austen were around today, she would be delighted by the recent news that a record seven North Norfolk beaches have excellent water quality, making my whole …”

“This is not taking us further down the devolution pathway, but will the Bill enable a better railway for passengers in Wales?”

“I was wondering whether you could take that specific example and describe what the passenger benefits might be. The unit that you just mentioned sounds pretty pertinent to some of the challenges for rail passengers in Wales in particular. I know there is not all the detail yet, but what could that hopefully unlock?”

“Very interesting.”

“There might be some lessons to be learnt, though. You have clearly done those improvements off your own balance sheet. Are there any lessons to be learnt about electrification, for example, that could be applied elsewhere? Because it does not matter whether it is going to an end stop or per kilometre cost. It is presum…”

“Isn’t that slightly counterintuitive? Are they going to try to gobble up all the good work that you have just done?”

“To pick up on the point you made earlier in response to a question from my colleague, you cited the benefit of bringing track and train together. Despite its being a slightly amusing metaphor, I do understand that that is the driving benefit of a lot of GBR’s case, but you also mentioned owning some track at the moment…”

“Isn’t that slightly counterintuitive? Are they going to try to gobble up all the good work that you have just done?”

“To pick up on the point you made earlier in response to a question from my colleague, you cited the benefit of bringing track and train together. Despite its being a slightly amusing metaphor, I do understand that that is the driving benefit of a lot of GBR’s case, but you also mentioned owning some track at the moment…”

“In what ways, in particular, might it improve things?”

“There might be some lessons to be learnt, though. You have clearly done those improvements off your own balance sheet. Are there any lessons to be learnt about electrification, for example, that could be applied elsewhere? Because it does not matter whether it is going to an end stop or per kilometre cost. It is presum…”

“But that business unit would not help to join up the west coast, for instance. That would have to be done subject to the same kind of provisions that any essentially non-devolved regional rail service would try to lobby for or make the business case for.”