In his attack on the Government, the Opposition's transport spokesman at least referred grudgingly to the fact that the west coast main line had been upgraded. That upgrading is already showing benefits in terms of attracting passengers to rail and away from road and air travel. That shows what more could be achieved if we moved forward with the development of proper high-speed rail links in the UK. The Government's own advisory bodies have reported on a number of occasions that:

"High-speed lines are essential if we are to deal with capacity constraints that are building up on our intercity network" -

and -

"The case for construction of a high-speed line is now much greater than it was 20 years ago, when there was more . . . capacity on the conventional network."

I was delighted when, a few weeks ago, the Institution of Civil Engineers published a report on the possibility of a dedicated high-speed line for the United Kingdom. That reflects the growing realisation that an idea that would have been regarded as bonkers a few years ago is gaining acceptability among policy makers, who recognise that it has now reached its time. The Government's adviser, Lord Eddington, has indicated that he will adopt that approach when he produces his report at the end of the year.

I do not have time to describe all the advantages of high-speed rail, but it can offer shorter travel times for passengers, strengthen the move away from dependence on the road network and, in particular, from short-haul air travel, and ensure that the north of England, the midlands and Scotland can enjoy the economic prosperity that will result from more and better links to the continent of Europe through full development of the high-speed channel tunnel rail link.

I do not expect the Government to commit themselves to a high-speed rail line today, but I stress that there is strong support for it in the House. I hope that if Lord Eddington recommends it, the Secretary of State will choose to be bold, for we are at our best when we are at our boldest. I hope that he will ensure that we in the United Kingdom—not just in the south-east, and not just for the purposes of our links with the continent of Europe, but throughout the country—can begin to enjoy the type of high-speed rail network that our European friends and neighbours regard as the norm. It is time that we joined the 21st century in that regard, as well as in the context of the other initiatives and projects that the Government have introduced at both local and national level.