§ 5. Mr. Edward Leigh (Gainsborough)If he will make a statement on the widening of the A46 between Newark and Lincoln. [89479]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Ms Glenda Jackson)The A46 Newark to Lincoln improvement scheme is included in the targeted programme of improvements announced in "A New Deal for Trunk Roads in England", which was published last July. As announced in December last year, the next stage for this scheme would be the making of the necessary compulsory purchase orders. Start of works would commence in 2001–02.
§ Ms JacksonYes.
§ Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes)Would my hon. Friend care to comment on the fact that the Tories did nothing 152 to attempt to cut the carnage on the A46 which links my constituents with the A1? Thanks to this Government, and to the work of my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Gillian Merron), we are at last seeing action to cut the high death tolls on that stretch of road. Does that not show that we are fairer to motorists?
§ Ms JacksonMy hon. Friend is entirely right and I pay tribute to the work that she and my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Gillian Merron) have done to ensure, as she so aptly put it, that the carnage on our roads is reduced. The Conservatives did nothing in that area when they were in power, and their newly published document makes it abundantly clear that they would be at the forefront of reintroducing carnage on our streets.