HS2 needs broad political consensus, says transport secretary

The high-speed rail link HS2 needs broad political consensus or it will end in nothing, says Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.

In a speech, Mr McLoughlin will accuse Labour of "playing politics with our prosperity" over the project.

On Tuesday the government will also publish a report justifying the £42.6bn cost of the project.

So judging by what Labour are saying about HS2 it looks unlikely a broad political consensus will be achieved and HS2 will end in nothing, sounds good to me.

Labour aren’t playing politics, well maybe a bit, but their objections to HS2, like most of the people in this country, are that it will cost too much and it won’t make this huge difference we are constantly being told by the government that it will.

The one stat that really gets me is that the money available for work on HS2 continues to rise and yet work hasn’t even started yet, first it was around £30bn, then it was £40bn and some even think it might go as high as 80 it's ridiculous. 

All the research and number crunching on the data analysing the pros and cons of HS2 done by independents shows that HS2 simply won’t be worth it, a few weeks ago a report came out that said over 50 places in the UK would actually be worse off if it went ahead.

When it was first announced most people didn’t want it, add in the fact that it will cost much more than what was initially expected, the benefits won’t be as big as first promised and many areas will suffer as a result, and I think you’ve got a convincing and conclusive argument that HS2 shouldn’t happen.