Is it time for Theresa May to save £100 billion by scrapping the HS2 railway?

I AGREE with Peter Oborne that HS2 should be scrapped (Mail). With wifi on trains, business people are able to work while travelling, so a journey that’s half-an-hour faster is not an issue. There is also little doubt that if the £100 billion for the final cost of HS2 was used for more pressing demands, it would stimulate economic growth far quicker and last much longer than a train line. Over the next 20 years, by far the most pressing transport infrastructure upgrade Britain needs is the east-west artery linking Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and Newcastle. A Northern Powerhouse rail link and a motorway from Manchester to Sheffield are essentials. JAMES WIGNALL, Accrington, Lancs. IN HIS negative and onesided commentary on HS2, Peter Oborne failed to

address the lack of rail capacity for the North and Midlands. There was no discussion of the regeneration seen in Birmingham, Crewe, Sheffield, Leeds and Manchester on the back of HS2. This is just one project required to reverse the inequality that has seen the UK with six of the ten poorest regions in the EU, which is a national disgrace. London and the South-East have enjoyed an investment boom with the Channel Tunnel link, Thameslink upgrade and the transformation of the Tube. This is set to continue with Crossrail, the Lower Thames Crossing, the Oxford-to-Cambridge rail link and HS4 linking Heathrow and Gatwick. It is great to see this necessary investment, but it should be spread across the country. HS2 is arguably the most important project to provide world-class infrastructure that could begin to reverse inequality across the UK.

NIGEL DAVIES, London W8. ONE sentence in Peter Oborne’s article sums up what a disaster HS2 is: ‘Dreamed up by New Labour, put into practice by George Osborne.’

STEPHEN TONG, Pudsey, W. Yorks. WE ALREADy have fast rail links from London to Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle. The poor links are those between northern cities. Work should be deferred on the southern portion of HS2 and priority given to northern links from Birmingham.

BRIAN NEWTON, Epsom, Surrey. HS2 is unaffordable, unnecessary and does not have the support of voters. With so many senior Cabinet members believing the project should be scrapped and prepared to go public with their views, Mrs May can surely find the courage to terminate this project at the earliest opportunity. It is time for this gravy train to hit the buffers, saving taxpayers billions. MIKE RAWSON, Cheshunt, Herts.