Chunnel could mean more traffic
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LABOUR MPs who oppose the Channel Tunnel are becoming more convinced that the scheme would lead to more traffic on the roads instead of the railways.
These fears were expressed by several Members when the Commons gave the Government a not very enthusiastic go-ahead to take up the Channel Tunnel Bill at the stage, it had reached when Parliament was dissolved for the October election.
Mr 'Leslie Huckfield (Labour, Nuneaton) pointed out that the treaty signed with the French specifically forbad discrimination by the Channel Tunnel operating authority in favour of one specific mode of transport.
-In other words, he said, any suggestion that we could in some way artificially make the railway rates lower, or any suggestion that we could use discriminatory tariffs in favour of the railways was ruled out by the treaty that we had already signed.
What better evidence could this country want of the real intentions of the operators who would use the tunnel than that all the big haulage companies and the big international transport companies were already seeking planning permission to build massive road haulage depots in Kent near to the entrance of the tunnel, asked Mr Huckfield.
Winding up the debate, Mr Neil Carmichael, Under Secretary DoE, said that the cost of the high speed rail link was clearly now likely to be substantially higher than the £120 million estimate of September 1973.