Comment: HS2
5 October 2023
Reacting to the announcement that the Birmingham-Manchester HS2 high-speed rail line would be cancelled, Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said:
"Stop-start approaches on large and complex infrastructure projects plainly do not represent value for money for the taxpayer. And this approach undermines wider confidence that government programmes for major infrastructure investment will be delivered. In a globally competitive world companies may now choose to invest their time and skills in other countries.
"The original plans for HS2 were calculated on the basis of the line extending beyond Birmingham - both the cost to the taxpayer of construction, and the boost to local economic development.
"As a Committee we have been raising concerns about HS2 for a full decade, so this latest change is little surprise. It has been confirmed that HS2 will run to London Euston, but it was only in July that we warned that Government does not know what it is trying to achieve with the planned new station there, and we had raised concerns about the considerable cost of the two-year pause which had been presented by Government as a money-saving move.
"Our HS2 Euston report highlighted that the costs of such major course-changes are not that simple. We will continue to closely scrutinise the delivery of HS2, and it is likely we will be examining the costs of this latest decision in the months to come."
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