Cabinet split over new bid to derail £56bn HS2
THERESA May is facing a fresh Tory revolt over the controversial HS2 rail line.
Senior party figures yesterday rallied behind a new drive to axe the £56billion project. At a Cabinet meeting last week, Andrea Leadsom urged fellow ministers to rethink the scheme. The Commons leader said that the vast budget would be better spent elsewhere. Boris Johnson and David Davis also ramped up pressure on Mrs May. But Business Secretary Greg Clark last night said that scrapping the link between London, the Midlands and the North of England would be ‘ completely the wrong approach’. The first phase of the project between London and Birmingham was formally approved by Parliament 18 months ago after Tory rebels led by former Cabinet minister Dame Cheryl Gillan failed in their bid to scupper it. Work on tunnels and bridges is due to begin next year. But further stages – taking the line to Crewe, and then Manchester, the East Midlands, Yorkshire and Leeds – are yet to be approved. Last Monday, Mrs Leadsom used a Cabinet meeting to warn against moving ahead. Among her list of criticisms was the vast sums paid to HS2 staff. This month it emerged that a quarter of its workers are on six-figure deals. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling argued at the meeting that extra railway capacity was needed between the North and the South. Meanwhile, yesterday at Tory conference, Mr Clark told a fringe event: ‘ We’ve made a decision, it’s important we follow through with it.’
The row erupted as former ministers Mr Johnson and Mr Davis yesterday called for the project to be halted.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Mr Johnson said the UK should build a bridge to Ireland and put HS2 on hold to focus on a highspeed link in the north of England.
The former Foreign Secretary said: ‘There are projects we should have on transport in the north of the country that ought to take precedence over HS2. It’s crazy how long it takes to get east-west across the country.’
Mr Davis said HS2 was not ‘well thought through’, but criticised Mr Johnson’s proposal and said the money would be better spent on superfast broadband. The former Brexit Secretary told Sophy Ridge on Sunday: ‘He wants to cancel HS2 and spend it on a bridge in Northern Ireland. Well, I don’t want to do that.
‘I think one of the blights of British politics is politicians having fantastic ideas that cost a fortune and don’t do much good and that would be one of them. If you are going to use the money use it for broadband or something else.’
Bosses at HS2 have been accused of failing to keep control of costs.
The state-backed company’s annual accounts show it spent more than £600million on consultants, engineers and lawyers, more than twice the previous year’s total.
Chief executive Mark Thurston receives a £602,000 annual package. His predecessor Simon Kirby was paid £750,000 a year before he stepped down in 2016.