Victory for taxpayers

Critics have denounced the Government for scrapping the eastern leg of HS2, calling it a betrayal. They are wrong. The decision is a victory for taxpayers and common sense. This newspaper has campaigned against HS2 for years. The financial cost is exorbitant, estimated to be in excess of £100billion. This is a sum that is even less affordable now than when the project was first conceived.

There has never been a strong economic rationale for the line, either. Projections for the number of passengers who would use HS2 have always looked wildly optimistic. Following the collapse in rail usage during the pandemic, they look absurd.

The experience of countries such as France shows that high-speed rail rarely reduces regional inequality, instead sucking economic activity towards dominant urban centres. If rail upgrades are necessary here in the UK, there are also countless smaller-scale projects that are likely to deliver better value for taxpayer money much more quickly, as the Government has now accepted is the case in the North East.

It is regrettable that ministers were unwilling to go further, and scrap the whole of HS2. Vast sums have already been spent, and evidently they have been persuaded by the fallacy that it is better to continue with the endeavour than cut their losses.

Nevertheless, by reducing its ambitions for HS2, the Government should save the country billions. Combined with the news that the impractical idea of a crossing between Scotland and Northern Ireland has been dropped, there are early signs that fiscal sanity might at last be returning to Westminster.