HS2 delay 'will trigger job cuts and could see firms go bust' leak shows

14 March 2023 , 14:37

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The Government has announced fresh delays to the HS2 line (Image: PA)

Delaying HS2 to save money will actually increase costs and trigger job cuts - according to a leaked Government document, MPs were told today.

Firms involved in building the high speed railway could collapse while Midlands towns may be stripped of access to the 225mph line, Labour warned.

Ministers sparked fury last week by confirming a two-year delay in building a key link on the high speed railway.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper claimed the move was needed to cut costs.

But a secret Whitehall briefing handed to Labour “blows apart" the justification, the Commons was told.

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Flourishing the document at the Despatch Box, Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: "His chief justification for the delays to HS2 were to balance the nation's books, but here his own department admit what he will not - that the delay itself will increase costs.

Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh (Getty Images)

"They admit it will cost jobs, that construction firms could go bust. They cannot rule out slashing high speed trains serving Stoke, Macclesfield and Stafford altogether.”

Ms Haigh said the document also suggested it could be 2041 before HS2 runs to Euston Railway Station in central London, with trains to the capital initially ending at Old Oak Common on the outskirts.

“This absurd plan will hit jobs, hurt growth and cost taxpayers even more," she told MPs.

“Is there anything more emblematic of this failed Government than their flagship levelling-up project that neither makes it to the North or to central London?"

The railway was originally planned to run from London Euston to Manchester and Leeds via Birmingham.

Work continues on the London to Birmingham stretch, including at Great Missenden, Bucks (Getty Images)

It had been due for extension between Birmingham and Crewe between 2030 and 2034 to help boost transport in the North.

But Mr Harper outlined a two-year delay to the phase - and set no date for when the line would be built to Manchester.

The Tories had already ditched pledges for HS2 to run to Yorkshire, but officials ordered a separate study into how high speed trains could reach Leeds - something now in jeopardy.

Conservative backbencher Alec Shelbrooke, MP for Elmet and Rothwell, West Yorks, said even "Mrs Miggins in the Dog and Duck knows” that high speed trains to Leeds are “not going to happen”.

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Conservative backbencher Alec Shelbrooke, the MP for Elmet and Rothwell, West Yorks (Parliament.tv)

He rubbished the Government’s November 2021 blueprint which tore up plans for the line to run to Leeds but focused on a separate plan to boost rail links across the North.

"It's not going to happen - Mrs Miggins in the Dog and Duck knows it's not going to happen,” he fumed.

“Don't talk to me about the Integrated Rail Plan - I've been hearing that cobblers for three years.”

Rail Minister Huw Merriman faced MPs' fury in the Commons (PA)

Labour MP Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley and Broughton, Gtr Manchester, said: “The Government is showing yet again its complete disdain for the North of England.”

Blasting the latest delay, Blackpool South’s Conservative MP Scott Benton added: “There’s not a single economic competitor who takes so longer to deliver strategic infrastructure.”

Under-fire Rail Minister Huw Merriman defended the delay saying it was needed to “balance the vast amounts we are spending both on HS2 and other transport and infrastructure projects with the priority to grow the economy and reduce debt”.

But outside the Commons, Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors chief executive Simon Hamlyn said: “The Government talks about levelling-up but when it comes to the crunch it’s always the North which loses out.

“We need long-term thinking and investment now, not short-term decision making and delays which will have a long-term effect on jobs, livelihoods, businesses and young people’s careers.

“Saving money now on the northern part of HS2 makes no economic sense since costs will rise further down the line.”

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Ben Glaze