HC Deb 25 February 1981 vol 999 cc863-4
5. Mr. Skeet

asked the Secretary of State for Transport what response he has made to the recommendation in the report from the Transport Select Committee on the roads White Paper that there should be a firm commitment to maintain the real size of the road construction budget at the 1980–81 level.

Mr. Fowler

I shall be responding to the Select Committee's report in due course. I have already made clear that while I cannot give any guarantees, I hope to maintain investment in the road programme.

Mr. Skeet

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind the Armitage report, and also the fact that the Select Committee has expressed very clear views on the subject? Is it wise to cut the construction programme? Is my right hon. Friend aware that at Bedford we have seen very little progress on works on the A428 and also the western relief road? We have been asking for something to happen for a long time but we still find very little being done.

Mr. Fowler

We should be clear about the position in terms of cutting investment. The Government have not presided over massive cuts in road investment. Our whole intent has been to try to maintain investment in the trunk road and motorway programme. I understand my hon. Friend's constituency interest, because he loses no opportunity—and rightly so—to tell me about it. This is a matter which is currently under discussion between the county council and the Department.

Mr. Prescott

Will the Secretary of State recognise that the Select Committee's recommendation was that there should be a higher priority for more resources for investment in transport? Will he now recognise that the higher priority given in Europe to higher subsidies is crucial to a proper transport industry, and that fanciful ideas such as the hiving off of the Southern region of British Rail or car sharing are no solution? The Secretary of State should learn the lesson that his right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Industry and the Secretary of State for Energy have learnt, namely, that more subsidies are needed if we are to have a proper transport system in this country.

Mr. Fowler

The hon. Gentleman has managed to get about 15 separate subjects into his question, none of which has anything to do with road investment. Investment was cut by the Labour Government by 46 per cent. The massive cuts in road investment took place under the Labour Government.

Mr. Roy Hughes

Will the Minister agree that an investment in transport, whether road or rail, at the present time can be nothing but beneficial? Will he agree that it is necessary to build a really efficient infrastructure for the future, when the upturn in the economy eventually comes?

Mr. Fowler

I endorse what the hon. Gentleman has said—much more reasonably, if I may say so, than the Opposition Front Bench. What the hon. Gentleman says is right. The strategy of the Government is to try to maintain the investment in the road programme. Certainly one would want to look forward to that investment increasing as the economy recovers from the present position.