MPs Call on Government to Scrap HS2

A group of Conservative and Lasbour MPs have wrtitten to the Sunday Telegraph saying they do not believe HS2 will be enviornmentally friendly, narrow the North-South divide, increase the capacity of the West Coast Main Line in less than 20 years and improve connectivity between our major cities.

In doing so, the group is echoing the concers of the Transport Select Committee, which also highlighed that the value of travel time savings put foward as a major benefit of the project, a cornerstone of the economic case, are not universally accepted. The signatories fear that existing commuter services will suffer as a result of HS2 and call upon the government to provide a more comprehensive statement about likley patterns of services once HS2 is operational. The costs and benefits of routing the HS2 via Heathrow should be set out more clearly with a statement about the status of possible complementary railways such as would link Heathrow to Gatwick or the Great Western Main Line. Finally, the group recognises HS2 may have a negative effect on the countryside and people along the route, which should be better reflected in the business case.

The signatories were -

Andrea Leadsom
Chris White
Fiona Bruce
Steve Baker
Frank Field
Kevin Hopkins
Roger Godsiff
Mark Pawsey
Ronnie Campbell and leading businessman
Archie Norman