Updated
13.15

The
Commons
Public
Accounts
Committee


has
published
a
highly
critical
report
about
the
latest
developments
at
HS2,
which
it
says
is
now
‘very
poor
value
for
money’
after
Phases
2A
and
2B
to
Crewe
and
Manchester
were
cancelled
by
the
Prime
Minister
last
October.

The
Committee
says
the
remaining
Phase
1
between
London
and
Birmingham
‘will
not
be
value
for
money,
as
its
total
costs
significantly
outweigh
its
benefits’.

The
Department
for
Transport
had
told
the
Committee
that
it
was
still
better
to
complete
Phase
1
–
a
calculation
made
by
excluding
the
£23
billion
spent
to
date,
and
including
as
a
benefit
of
the
project
avoiding
approximately
£11
billion
of
remediation
costs
which
would
be
incurred
if
the
last
section
was
also
cancelled.

The
Committee
has
remained
unconvinced,
saying
that
it
has
been
‘left
with
little
assurance
over
the
calculations’.

The
Committee’s
chair
Dame
Meg
Hillier
said:
‘The
decision
to
cancel
HS2’s
Northern
leg
was
a
watershed
moment
that
raises
urgent
and
unanswered
questions,
laid
out
in
our
report.
What
happens
now
to
the
Phase
2
land,
some
of
which
has
been
compulsorily
purchased?
Can
we
seriously
be
actively
working
towards
a
situation
where
our
high-speed
trains
are
forced
to
run
slower
than
existing
ones
when
they
hit
older
track?
Most
importantly,
how
can
the
Government
now
ensure
that
HS2
deliver
the
best
possible
value
for
the
taxpayer?

‘HS2
is
the
biggest
ticket
item
by
value
on
the
Government’s
books
for
infrastructure
projects.
As
such,
it
was
crying
out
for
a
steady
hand
at
the
tiller
from
the
start.
But,
here
we
are
after
over
a
decade
of
our
warnings
on
HS2’s
management
and
spiralling
costs
–
locked
into
the
costly
completion
of
a
curtailed
rump
of
a
project
and
many
unanswered
questions
and
risks
still
attached
to
delivery
of
even
this
curtailed
project.’

Responding
to
the
report,
Lord
McLoughlin,
who
chairs
Transport
for
the
North,
said:
‘We
know
the
North
has
huge
economic
potential,
but
poor
connectivity
is
holding
the
region
back.
Transport
for
the
North’s
ambition
is
to
close
the
productivity
gap,
decarbonise
surface
transport
and
improve
opportunities
for
all.
That
requires
transformational
investment
in
our
transport
system,
and
none
more
so
than
in
our
railways.

‘The
decision
to
stop
HS2
at
Birmingham
is
a
missed
opportunity
for
the
North,
and
the
country
as
whole.
It
wasn’t
just
the
improved
North-South
connectivity
it
would
have
enabled,
but
the
extra
capacity
it
provided,
both
in
terms
of
the
new
high-speed
line
and
in
the
space
freed
up
on
the
existing
network
to
run
more
services.
This
would
have
benefited
passengers
and
freight.

‘Transport
for
the
North’s
evidence
shows
those
capacity
and
connectivity
needs
haven’t
changed,
and
we
need
still
need
that
transformational
investment
in
pan-regional
transport
to
support
levelling
up.
We
will
continue
to
work
with
government
to
address
these
challenges
and
deliver
the
benefits
citizens
and
businesses
across
the
North
need.’

Railway
Industry
Association
chief
executive
Darren
Caplan
said:
‘Today’s
report
by
the
Public
Accounts
Committee
raises
many
questions
which
remain
unanswered,
not
least
of
which
is
how
HS2
going
to
operate
as
a
railway.
Ministers
urgently
need
to
make
decisions
on
this
point
and
others
to
ensure
both
sunk
and
future
investment
deliver
value
for
money
for
taxpayers
and
the
railway.

‘It
remains
RIA’s
view
that
the
full
benefits
of
HS2
can
only
be
realised
by
building
the
full
HS2.
However,
going
forward
RIA
and
our
members
are
committed
to
working
with
the
Government
on
the
trajectory
of
future
rail
investment
and
how
this
meets
long-term
demand
for
rail
capacity.
It
is
imperative
that
options
are
kept
open
as
the
scope
of
work
on
this
is
developed.’