Influential committee of MPs criticise stop-start approach of Government on major projects

The fall-out from the Prime Minister’s decision to scrap the Birmingham to Manchester route of HS2 continues to hit the Government.

The decision has already been roundly criticised, now the chair of the Public Accounts Committee has questioned whether this week’s confirmation undermines confidence in the Government to make decisions and keep control of major projects.

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."

Meanwhile, Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the BCC, said businesses had remained hopeful the Prime Minister would listen to their calls to push on and deliver the long-term infrastructure this country needs: “This is disappointing news for them and our economy as cancelling the second phase of HS2 will massively impact the country’s rail network.

“Without this vital additional capacity, any plans to improve the UK’s freight and passenger services will be restricted.

“We will be left with a rail system unable to effectively connect all our regional economies.

“Each train, that HS2’s capacity would have unlocked, had the potential to remove up to 129 lorries from the road, this will also be a lost opportunity to build a low-carbon freight transport system.

“And it will affect our global trade: one in four sea containers arriving or departing from a port is carried by rail, and additional capacity is urgently needed. When we talk about growth, we mean trade. Our global partners must trust that we can move not only at speed but with capacity.

“Businesses and regional governments will now be scratching their heads as they work out how to fill the hole left in their strategic plans by the loss of HS2’s further phases. 

“Government must quickly set out the detail of its new plans, especially around timescales and the release of funds for the new projects it has put forward today.

“It must also urgently revisit the functioning of our planning system, as so much of the delay and cost around HS2 has come from its inability to cope with a large-scale infrastructure project. Let’s learn the lessons from HS2; let’s make sure these new promises are deliverable before we spend another penny of taxpayers’ money.”