Northern Conservative MPs urge PM to ‘change course’ on HS2
CONSERVATIVE MPs representing newly won northern seats have joined a group calling for the party to “change course” over its support for the High Speed 2 railway.
In a letter to Boris Johnson, 21 MPs have formed an HS2 Review Group, whose members are concerned that the business case for the rail line has “increasingly weakened” amid spiralling costs.
Group members include James Grundy, who represents the former Labour stronghold of Leigh, Lancs, along with Alexander Stafford, the new MP for Rother Valley, in South Yorkshire, and Andy Carter, who won the seat of Warrington South last week.
Their intervention comes as Mr Johnson prepares to decide HS2’s future, after he shelved an official review into whether and how it should proceed, until after the election. During the campaign he admitted that the project was likely to cost “north of £80 billion, maybe £100 billion”.
Theresa May’s government insisted that HS2, which is due to run from London to Birmingham and then on to Leeds and Manchester, would “revitalise the North”.
But the HS2 Review Group warns that the new Government must “restore public trust” in the decisions taken by ministers, and that the scheme
“is widely seen as a project that is beset by problems, consistently running over time and over budget.”
In their letter to Mr Johnson, seen by The Sunday Telegraph, the group states: “It is not too late for the Government to change course. We have many new colleagues who have campaigned against or are seriously concerned about the future of this project.
“Our fear is that if this project goes ahead as planned, costs will continue to spiral, and the business case will further collapse.
“We are concerned that not only money but also energy and expertise will be consumed by this project, affecting our ability to deliver on other national priorities.”
The MPs express concern that the remit of the review commissioned by Mr Johnson “prevented sufficient consideration of alternatives” to the scheme “and the panel was not given enough time to do the comprehensive review that this project demands.”
They have requested a meeting with Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, when the Commons returns on Jan 7, stating: “Our aim is to provide solutions that we think will be in the national interest, whilst delivering the investment so desperately needed in those areas of the country which lent us their votes.”