Business
leaders
and
many
politicians


have
been
rallying
to
the
defence
of
HS2,
as
reports
continue
to
allege
that
the
Prime
Minister
is
poised
to
cancel
Phases
2a
and
2b,
north
of
Birmingham
to
Crewe
and
Manchester.

It
is
said
that
a
decision
could
be
announced
before
the
Conservative
Party
conference
in
Manchester,
which
starts
on
Sunday.

The
chair
of
the
National
Infrastructure
Commission
Sir
John
Armitt
told
the
BBC
that
cancellation
would
be
a
‘tragedy’.

He
continued:
‘In
Birmingham
we
have
already
seen
the
consequences
with
major
investment,
20,000
new
jobs
predicted
and
2,000
new
homes
predicted.
But
what
we
have
to
do
is
get
a
grip on
the
costs.

‘You
look
at
whether
you
have
done
some
gold-plating.
Railway
engineers
always
want
to
do
the
absolute
ideal
and
you
have
to
challenge
that
and
ask
whether
that
is
absolutely
essential
– can
we
silver-plate
this
rather
than
gold-plate
it?
You
might
slow
it
down
a
bit,
that
gives
you
some
savings
on
the
alignment.

‘You
have
to
really
have
costs
as
your
focus,
day
in
day
out
where
you
are
constantly
challenging
and
saying
how
can
we
make
sure
we
keep
costs
down
and
keep
within
our
budget.
We
owe that
to
the
whole
project.
There
are
massive
benefits
to
come
from
this.
The
benefits
from
Birmingham
to
Manchester
are
£55
billion,
and
you
are
increasing
the
benefits
across
the
whole
of
the north
west
because
in
fact
it
will
connect
in
to
the
improvements
that
government
has
announced
between
Manchester
and
Leeds,
so
you
have
a
whole
connected
railway.

‘You
control
the
costs,
you
don’t
run
at
the
first
whiff
of
gunfire.
You
buckle
down
and
you
address
those
cost
issues
and
you
address
them
on
a
daily
basis
across
the
whole
project.

‘The
existing
West
Coast
is
the
most
densely
used
and
heavily
used
railway
in
Europe.
By
freeing
up
some
capacity
you’ll
get
more
benefits
for
freight,
which
we
want
to
do.
We
want
to
get lorries
off
the
roads
and
we
want
to
increase
rail
freight.

‘There
are
massive
benefits
to
the
economy
by
continuing
this.
If
we
don’t
continue
what
are
we
saying
to
the
rest
of
the
world?
What
are
we
saying
to
all
those
investors
who
we
want
to
bring into
the
UK.
Here
is
a
country
that
sets
itself
ambitions
and
then
runs
away
when
it
starts
to
see
some
challenges.
We
have
to
meet
the
challenges.’

However
defence
secretary
Grant
Shapps,
who
was
transport
secretary
in
Boris
Johnson’s
government,
said
that
Covid,
inflation
and
the
war
in
Ukraine
had
badly
affected
public
finances.
He maintained
that
a
reponsible
government
should
ask:
‘Does
this
still
stack
up
for
what
the
country
requires,
in
terms
of
where
it’s
spending
its
resources,
and
at
what
time?‘

It
is
reported
that
Rishi
Sunak
is
set
to
consider
the
decision
in
a
meeting
with
chancellor
Jeremy
Hunt
this
week,
before
the
Conservative
conference
begins.

Mr
Shapps
also
told
Sky
News:
‘If
you
don’t
stop
and
reflect
after
things
have
changed,
that
is
a
foolish
approach.’

The
HS2
project
was
launched
by
the
last
Labour
government.
On
14
December
2009,
before
a
major
report
was
published,
transport
secretary
Lord
(Andrew)
Adonis
had
said:
‘The
potential
for
high
speed
rail
to
regenerate
and
reinvigorate
is
now
a
reality
for
people
in
Kent,
but
the
size
of
Britain’s
high
speed
network
lags
behind
that
of
many
of
our
European
neighbours
and
doesn’t
connect
any
of
our
major
cities.’