Labour has backed the Government’s review of HS2 while business and regional transport leaders have leapt to the project’s defence.
Andy McDonald MP
Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s shadow transport secretary, said: ‘Labour supports an independent peer review to consider the project’s environmental and economic impact and its governance.'
He said the party had recently attempted to amend the HS2 bill to require an independent peer review, but the Government had rejected this.
He added: ‘Labour supports investing in developing new rail capacity, including high speed and digital rail, to address the climate crisis and better connect our towns and cities. But improved governance of railway expansion is needed, not least over the HS2 project.’
Maria Machancoses, director of sub-national transport body Midlands Connect, said scrapping or de-scoping the project would be ‘a disaster for the Midlands and the whole country’.
She said: ‘Although a review must rightly scrutinise the project’s deliverability, benefits and costs, we must not lose sight of the fact that HS2 will transform our transport network for the next century.
Maria Machancoses
Ms Machancoses added ‘We’re pleased that West Midlands mayor Andy Street is on the review panel to promote the interests of the region. But it’s vital that the East Midlands isn’t ignored in this process either.
'Therefore, Midlands Connect will be submitting compelling evidence to the review concerning the benefits of HS2 to the whole of the Midlands.’
Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: ‘HS2 is a vital project to help rebalance the economy and make us more productive, alongside linked interventions including most notably Northern Powerhouse Rail.
‘The Northern Powerhouse Partnership will be engaging positively with the review to make the case for why HS2 is so necessary, for cities like Leeds and Manchester, but also for those like Newcastle, Preston and Glasgow, which all benefit from significantly better connections under an integrated plan for a new railway to take city to city traffic off our largely Victorian network which we need for commuters and freight.’
The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) said it had long argued that HS2 is vital in helping the UK Government realise its ambition to rebalance the UK economy.
Director of external affairs Marie-Claude Hemming said: ‘The project will play a key role in securing economic growth post-Brexit. Our research has shown that for every 1,000 jobs that are directly created in infrastructure construction, employment as a whole rises by 3,050 jobs. And for each £1bn increase in infrastructure investment, UK-wide GDP increases by a total of £1.3bn.
She added: ‘HS2 offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to completely reshape the way we travel across the UK, joining up Britain and helping provide opportunities for the many. Cancelling or delaying the project, which is well underway, will leave a sad legacy of what world class infrastructure could have been and damage industry confidence for the foreseeable future.’
The CBI’s director of infrastructure, Tom Thackray, said: ‘The business message on HS2 is clear-cut - back it, build it, benefit from it. The debate has gone round the houses too many times.’
He added: ‘While it’s always helpful to review major projects like HS2 to ensure that value for money is delivered, the business case is well known.
‘We firmly believe that committing to HS2 in full, once and for all, will spread the flow of investment across the Midlands, the North of England and into Scotland. The current poor connectivity in the North is a major obstacle to encouraging companies from growing in the region and is a barrier to inward investment.’
Joe Rukin, campaign manager at Stop HS2, said the group had ‘serious questions as to whether a review headed by former chair of HS2 could ever be described as independent’
He added: ‘If this is to be a genuine review as to whether to go ahead or not with the project, the Government must cease all works immediately, because damage to irreplaceable habitats and ancient woodland is happening as we speak. This destruction must stop now, not in a couple of weeks or months, not at Christmas, now.’
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