Anneliese Dodds, Labour's parliamentary spokesperson for Reading East, has expressed her astonishment that the Conservative MP for Reading East, Rob Wilson, has called for the Reading Station upgrade to be delayed.

Yesterday in the House of Commons Mr Wilson stated: "This morning I was informed by Network Rail that trying to rush forward the £500 million upgrade of Reading station in my constituency would be problematic. It could lead to poor planning and mistakes, and it would make little short-term difference to unemployment. Does the Secretary of State agree that trying to bring forward big capital projects such as the one at Reading station is not the answer to unemployment, and that continuing a policy of reckless spending will do damage to unemployment?" (Hansard, 20th October 2008, Col. 6).

Anneliese said: "The MP for Reading East suggests that the upgrade of Reading station should not be rushed forward. He seems to be completely oblivious to the constant delays and overcrowding which plague commuters using Reading station. Not to mention the massive bottlenecks at the Cow Lane Bridges which would be alleviated by the scheme. Local commuters, amongst the 20 million passengers who use the station every year, are desperate for these improvements- as are the drivers, cyclists and pedestrians who face daily queues and an unsafe route through the Cow Lane bottleneck".

She continued: "I have written to Mr Wilson to ask him why he appears to be campaigning against investment in his own constituency".

The proposed station upgrade, worth over £500 million, would increase the number of platforms and track capacity to service Reading station, the second busiest outside London. It would supplement the availability of services during peak times, and reduce congestion caused by the conjunction of the East-West and North-South lines to the west of the station.

Improving Reading station will benefit not only Reading itself but the entire South East region. The station upgrade is supported by a wide coalition of local organizations, including business groups throughout the South East (including the Reading Chamber of Commerce and local business representatives), under the overall lead of Reading Borough Council.