MPs to hit HS2 brakes as petition triggers debate

TORY MPs are lining up to denounce High Speed 2 in the Commons after more than 100,000 members of the public secured a debate on scrapping it.

Senior Conservatives will urge ministers to put the rail project “out of its misery”, pointing to spiralling costs and working from home as reasons to redistribute its £98billion budget. A debate on scrapping the rail line is set for Monday Sept 13 after the public petition drew the signatures to trigger a formal session in the Commons.

More than 155,000 people have put their names to the petition, stating that the line offers poor value for money, and that the pandemic has “changed how we work forever and invalidated the business case”.

Opponents claim that MPs and peers misled over its costs amid key votes to approve the initial sections of the scheme, with ministers failing to come clean about internal warnings that the £56billion budget was unrealistic.

Boris Johnson admitted during the Tory leadership contest that the budget was likely to exceed £100 bn, and his Government’s revised “funding envelope” is £98 bn – significantly short of the £150bn opponents say it will cost.

MPs planning to back the petitioners include the former cabinet ministers Esther McVey and Andrea Leadsom. Mrs Leadsom, the former business secretary, said: “HS2 has a lack of corporate memory, and this is reflected in the unacceptable way it treats constituents whose land and property have been taken over by the project.

“Its budget has overrun time and time again and it is inconceivable that it offers value for the taxpayer in any form. The entire project is bad for our economy and our environment and I will be sharing my concerns in September’s debate.”

Ms McVey, the former work and pensions secretary, said: “HS2 is a huge white elephant which has ballooned in cost from £37 bn to over £150 bn and still rising, which will destroy the environment and will almost certainly benefit London more than the North. HS2 is neither needed nor affordable and the Government should put it out of its misery as soon as possible.”

Last month, Lord Berkeley, who was deputy chairman of Mr Johnson’s review of the scheme, wrote to Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, calling for an inquiry into whether ministers misled Parliament over the costs.

Michael Gross, a property developer who accepted a large settlement from HS2 over allegations it undervalued properties it acquired under compulsory purchase orders, has insisted that there has been “a massive and orchestrated cover-up of the facts which would have justified stopping this project very early on”.

‘Its budget has overrun… and it is inconceivable that it offers value for the taxpayer in any form’