Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has confirmed in the Commons that HS2 will be delayed yet again. The railway line between London and Birmingham won’t be finished by 2033 as promised. It’s been kicked into the long grass for at least another two years…
Guido was the first to report five months ago that the stretch from Old Oak Common to Birmingham Curzon Street was going to being delayed by several years. Alexander blamed a “litany of failure” for the ballooning cost – now £37 billion over budget – yet insisted ministers are now “turning the page on infrastructure failures.” No word on when the line will be completed, or how much more the taxpayer will have to fork out for it. This project was off the rails from the start…
The HS2 debacle has been a rolling disaster, with Phase 2—the leg from the West Midlands to Manchester— axed in 2023. Even so, the government insisted Phase 1 would stay on track, with services expected to run between 2029 and 2033, (with the optimistic target date being 2030) between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street. Euston’s grand terminal was originally slated to be finished by 2041, though now the government won’t commit to a timescale. Now, Guido hears the date for trains to start running has been kicked even further into the long grass…
Industry insiders say that yet another delay is looming, pushing back the next phase of HS2 by several more years. Hardly a shocker, given the ballooning costs and the Treasury’s penny-pinching. When Guido asked the Department for Transport, they didn’t deny the hold-up, instead blaming the “dysfunctional mess” inherited by the Tories. A government source said:
“This is speculation. The Transport Secretary inherited a dysfunctional mess in HS2. But the project is now undergoing a full reset, and we have acted swiftly to put urgent measures in place to bring its cost and delivery back under control. This includes tasking the new Chief Executive to assess the current cost and timeline, and to provide an action plan to deliver HS2 at the lowest reasonable cost.”
Off the rails…
The Treasury says it’ll rake in “up to £520 million a year” from its destructive farm tax. 15,000 farmers descended on Westminster this week to protest the confiscation of their estates…
The cost of the Covid Inquiry according to new analysis done by the TaxPayers’ Alliance will stand at £208 million by the time it finishes in May 2026. A bat shed added to a short section of HS2 cost £100 million. Is Reeves’ policy worth it for two inquiries and a shed?
Reeves appointed David Goldstone as the new Chair of the Office of Value for Money to “help us realise the benefits from every pound of public spending”. Ironically, Goldstone will work once per week at a daily rate of £950 – more than the Prime Minister. No need to know the value for money when the taxpayer is paying for it…
Goldstone won’t even be allowed to weigh in on HS2 discussions due to conflicts of interest; he’s the Treasury’s nominee member for the HS2 Board. A scheme renowned as one of the state’s most spectacular flops in delivering bang for the taxpayer’s buck. You couldn’t make it up…
Hat-tip: Elliot Keck
Labour is set to announce the re-extension of HS2 to Crewe. There goes another Sunak legacy…
The West Midlands to Crewe route was “part A” of HS2’s Phase 2, which Sunak scrapped at Tory Party Conference in 2023. Will Labour cancel the £36 billion of extra transport investment that Sunak initiated in its place?
Labour ministers have “re-evaluated the cost-benefit of HS2” and come to the decision that it should go past Birmingham after all. A formal announcement is pencilled in for the New Year. Phase 2a already has parliamentary approval – LBC says construction will be handed over to a private consortium. Another black hole has just opened up…
Red Wall Labour backbencher Jonathan Brash told GB News that Starmer should resign:
“I’m completely fed up about it, and I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think that, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when.”