HC Deb 18 July 1994 vol 247 cc11-3
10. Mr. Merchant

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what fraction of his Department's annual budget is spent on roads; and what fraction of journeys in Britain every year is made by road.

Mr. MacGregor

Over the past three years, just under half of my Department's total budget was spent on roads. Given that nearly 90 per cent. of all journeys nationally are by road, that demonstrates how my Department's expenditure is skewed relatively towards public transport.

Mr. Merchant

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, whatever some people might pretend, his figures powerfully demonstrate the extent to which his budget is deliberately accentuated to encourage public transport rather than private transport? Should not my right hon. Friend be strongly congratulated on achieving that success?

Mr. MacGregor

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. That success shows in the many large public transport projects that we are currently undertaking, and it shows also in the figures. Planned investment in public transport remains at historically high levels and it will involve expenditure of not far short of £6 billion over the next three years.

Mr. Tony Banks

When will the Secretary of State accept that the more money he spends on roads, the more people will use private vehicles and the more congestion and pollution there will be? At the moment, Londoners are choking to death. Hospitals are inundated with people with respiratory diseases and the Government are doing nothing about it—they are stunningly complacent. When will the Secretary of State take action? For example, on days when pollution reaches danger levels, he should ban the use of private vehicles in central London and he should also start doing something about engines that pollute London. Is he aware that, while he is stunningly complacent, people are choking to death on the streets of London?

Mr. MacGregor

I have already explained that we are taking a considerable number of measures. As the hon. Gentleman knows, one of the potential measures that we are looking at is congestion charging in London, on which we are doing probably the biggest piece of international research that has ever been done. I notice that the hon. Gentleman is committed to banning vehicles on the roads in central London. I do not believe that that is what the vast majority of people want.

Mr. Sumberg

May I tell my right hon. Friend of the widespread concern in my constituency at the way in which his budget is being spent on the M62 relief road? He has now acquired a number of houses in my constituency. Many of them are empty and many are in disrepair. There is widespread concern among my constituents about who will take tenancy of those properties. Will my right hon. Friend urgently look at the management that is undertaken by the Highways Agency so that we can put a decent, sensible system into operation?

Mr. MacGregor

My hon. Friend the Minister for Roads and Traffic is currently doing just that.

Mr. Dobson

The Secretary of State has acknowledged that this year he is spending more than £2 billion of taxpayers' money on building new roads. Could he change his priorities and allow Railtrack to spend £5 million on settling the signalling staff's dispute? Is not that what it would have done with its offer of 5.7 per cent. if the Secretary of State had not intervened and stopped the payment?

If the right hon. Gentleman says that he cannot take the money from the roads programme, would he consider diverting it from his privatisation programme? He is pouring £5 million into the pockets of one firm of City lawyers which is to advise him on privatisation. Does not he think that most passengers would consider the money better spent on the signalling staff?

Mr. MacGregor

I assure the hon. Gentleman that the money that we are spending on our rail reforms will ensure a much better railway for the future. The intention is to attract more passengers and freight on to rail. That is why I am concerned about the current strike: at the very moment when we can attract more freight on to rail, it is discouraging people and companies. I note that the hon. Gentleman still refuses to condemn this thoroughly unnecessary strike.