The Island’s MP, Andrew Turner, has welcomed the news today that the Institute of Directors (IoD), an influential group of leading businessmen, is calling on the Government to abandon plans for the controversial high-speed rail project, High Speed 2 (HS2).
A survey of IoD members showed that they overwhelmingly rejected the argument that the plan represented good value for money and 70% said that it would have no impact at all on the productivity of their businesses, leading the IoD’s director Simon Walker to describe the project as ‘one grand folly’. The coalition Government supported by the Labour Party plan to build a new line between London and the West Midlands allowing trains to run at 250mph from London to Birmingham by 2026, with Manchester and Leeds connected to the service by 2032. The original estimate for the project was £32bn, the Government now expects it to cost £42.6bn; however the Institute of Economic Affairs, an influential think tank, recently released a report suggesting the costs could escalate to more than £80bn. Last week the Rt Hon Alastair Darling MP, who approved the HS2 plans as Chancellor and is also a former transport secretary, said it would be foolish to go ahead.
Mr Turner commented:
“It’s very clear that opposition to HS2 is growing. Today the IoD has come out against it and there are more and more questions from organisations that have previously supported the plans. I have always had grave concerns about this project, but at the most recent vote in June only 37 MPs voted to kill off the project, with 325 MPs supporting it. I have a feeling that as time goes on more MPs will join us in voting against it. This was a vanity project started by Labour and we are now simply throwing good money after bad. I hope that the coalition government listens carefully to the arguments of those who are opposed, including this influential business group. The rose-tinted spectacles must come off and they must find the courage to do a U-turn and put this white elephant which constantly gets more and more expensive out of its prolonged misery. Islanders are being expected to contribute towards paying for something most of us will never, ever use.”
