More evidence that the decision making process is flawed as Government admits imcompetence over Franchise award

Martin Tett , Leader of Buckinghamshire County Council and the Chairman of the 51m Alliance of 18 local authorities opposed to HS2 has demanded that the Government urgently review the Business Case for HS2 in the light of the Government's admission of incompetence within the Department for Transport in connection with the West Coast Mainline franchise award.

"We have always argued that the consultation and decision making process on HS2 was deeply flawed. The Government has now admitted that there are fundamental problems within the Department for Transport in the way it evaluates projects and makes decisions on major projects. We want to know if the same people who have been suspended were involved in the decisions on HS2? Supporters of HS2 have often criticised us for our legal action against HS2. What this revelation on the West Coast Mainline franchise shows is that we have been absolutely right to do so. These current admissions of incompetence would not have come to light without Richard Branson's legal challenge. We expect similar revelations from our challenge on HS2."