The Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has this morning announced there will be an independent inquiry into whether HS2 should be scrapped, with a decision made this Autumn on whether the ludicrously expensive project will continue. In some estimates, the ballooning endeavour has been projected to cost over £100 billion. At least unlike HS2, this enquiry will be completed in an expeditious time frame…

The review, chaired by civil engineer Douglas Oakervee and deputised by HS2 critic Lord Berkeley, will look at whether the most expensive infrastructure project in Europe should continue, the benefits and impacts on the North and London, affordability, efficiency, deliverability and its relations with Boris’s planned Northern Powerhouse Rail. In the meantime, work on HS2 will continue in a more limited capacity. Hopefully this review will be the end of the line for Osborne’s vanity project.