Minister signals HS2 could get green light

Rail pioneers praised in the Lords, but critics offer up alternative projects to spend the money on

A GOVERNMENT minister has given the strongest hint yet that HS2 will go ahead, saying that railways are built “for our children and our children’s children”.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton, a transport minister, praised “Victorian pioneers” for building the train lines that form the “vast part of our national railway”. She also criticised the “naysay- ers” who block such projects and praised the courage of politicians who see them through.

This week, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) said the high-speed rail link is over-budget and years behind schedule because ministers “un- derestimated the complexity” of the project.

Speaking in the House of Lords in a debate on Thursday, Baroness Vere said: “Thinking back nearly 200 years to the 1830s, our predecessors were here debating not one, two or three but four new major train lines.

“I have no doubt that at that time there were challengers, critics and naysayers, but I doubt that they had any idea of the impact that their determination and courage would have on their children’s generation and many generations thereafter.

“So perhaps we build railways for our children and our children’s children. I, for one, am grateful to those Victorian pioneers for giving us the routes that we have today.”

However, MPS critical of HS2 last night warned against comparing the project with Victorian routes.

Victoria Prentis, the Conservative MP for Banbury, told The Daily Telegraph: “The difference now is that the taxpayers are paying.”

HS2, originally priced at £36billion, is now forecast to cost £106 billion and the NAO report warned that it was impossible to “estimate with certainty what the final cost could be”.

This week, a group of Tory MPS, including a number who broke Labour’s “red wall”, warned of the “devastating impact” of the project.

In a video posted on Youtube, they implored Boris Johnson to rethink HS2 and presented the Prime Minister with a list of alternative infrastructure projects to spend the money on. These include a second phase of Northern Powerhouse Rail, linking Liverpool and Manchester, as well as delivering East West Rail between Bicester and Milton Keynes.

The MPS plan to raise the examples in person with Mr Johnson during the next fortnight.

Dehenna Davison, the Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland, said in the video: “In my constituency, we don’t really need HS2 but we’ll all be paying for it.”

Ms Prentis added: “It is quite powerful when you have always been told it is for the North, and then the North arrives with a blue rosette and tells us it doesn’t want it.”

A spokesman at the Department for Transport said: “A draft of the Oakervee Report was delivered shortly before Christmas. The Transport Secretary, Chancellor and Prime Minister will take a final decision on HS2 shortly.”

Mr Johnson’s decision is expected next month.