Posted 1st November 2013 | 8 Comments
MPs give green light to HS2
MPs have voted decisively in favour of HS2, by approving the financial 'Paving Bill' with a majority of 316. The Prime Minister said the scheme was 'absolutely vital', but opponents of the project claimed that the vote demonstrated a 'clear disconnect' with public opinion.
The vote came as a study aiming to increase the benefits to Scotland HS2 rail was announced. HS2 Ltd said high speed services to Scotland and the north of England will start as soon as Phase 1 opens in 2026. Transport minister Baroness Kramer said the project would 'bring the UK together'.
Scottish transport minister Keith Brown said he was 'excited' to work with the UK government on the plan. In the longer term, HS2 could itself be extended to reach Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill will now move to the House of Lords, but the Commons vote was seen as the key test of the Government's proposals.
The Prime Minister welcomed the outcome. David Cameron said HS2 was an 'absolutely vital programme', but he been facing a potential u-turn by Labour, which created the project when it was in power but has recently been warning that there can be 'no blank cheque' for the new lines. There had been speculation, which proved to be unfounded, that Labour MPs would oppose the Bill.
Mr Cameron called for a 'national consensus' and said he hoped that: "Labour would "see sense, stop talking about pulling the plug and get behind it". He added: "I'm absolutely sure it's an essential piece of work for the country. It's not just about journey times... it's about capacity.
"The fact is, the West Coast Main Line is full. Every day there are thousands of people standing on trains who need to be able to sit down and work on trains."
His reference to working on trains is noteworthy, because until very recently the Department of Transport had been maintaining that the time savings on HS2 were additionally valuable because people do not work on trains, and would therefore have less downtime if the journey itself was shorter. After widespread criticism of this assessment, the DfT has now changed its stance and conceded that people can and do work during a train journey.
Meanwhile, opponents have continued to voice their discontent. Penny Gaines of Stop HS2 reacted to the vote in the Commons by claiminng the Government was 'losing credibility' on the issue 'by trying to claim that speed is irrelevant'. She added: "Ordinary people are realising that HS2 is a shiny new toy for politicians' egos, not a realistic answer to current transport issues."
However, the transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said this week that an alternative upgrading of existing main lines would take 14 years, cost £20 billion and require thousands of weekend blockades. At the end of this time, the capacity gains would still be much less. He told a conference in Manchester: "This is not an alternative, it is an impossibility. We can’t build for the future by ripping the existing network to bits. It would just be a giant bodge up.”
The Bill approved by MPs will authorise preliminary expenditure on the project. A further and much larger measure, known as a Hybrid Bill, will be needed to allow construction to begin.
A Hybrid Bill is so called because it contains elements of Public and Private Acts. In the past, Private Acts were used to authorise projects like new railways, although the process has mostly been replaced over the last 20 years or so by orders granted under the Transport & Works Act. However, the size and complexity of HS2 will require a full-scale Act of Parliament before it can be built.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Steve, Kuwait
Still too expensive. Still not enough happening elsewhere for it to be worth it anyway.
Tony Pearce, Reading
There are 650 MPs in Parliament. 17 voted against, 333 for HS2. That leaves 300 who didn't vote. Why not ? The opposition to any Bill is usually done in the Committee stage when things are changed around a lot, and amendments proposed. The House of Lords is also another strange kettle of fish. This story has a long way to run yet.
Chris Neville-Smith, Durham
"One thing I am not totally sure about is following a question from a Liverpool MP the reply suggested that this bill is similar to an Infrastructure Law other countries have and in fact allows for plans for future HS lines and not just the Y HS2?"
Probably not. The bill explicitly refers to a line connecting London, Birmingham, Manchester, the East Midlands, Sheffield and Leeds. If theory, you could have play on a rather tenuous interpretation of the words "at least" in order to build more HS lines, but at Report Stage a clause was put in expressly referring to the £50.1bn budget.
So whilst someone could in theory try to use this bill as the green light for expenditure on a different line, I don't think anyone would ever try that.
Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
Despite what the Anti HS2 brigade say this. Bill still got a. 10 to 1 Majority demonstrating support on both sides of the house. Those who talk about Labour ignore the fact that its their job to hold the government to account and if Labour wins in 2015 then it will fall to the Conservatives to hold Labour to account, it's how parliament works !
I was able to see the full debate and noticed one amendment placed by Cheryl Gillian would have allocated £50 BILLION for this stage alone ! It was naturally voted down .
The reality was that the Antis were few in number and had little constructive to say and in fact Frank Dobson MP whose constituency includes Euston Station asked not a single question regarding upgrading Euston mainline or underground and simply spoke about a few shops in a nearby street. They may have issues but he ignored benefit of upgrade similar to nearby Kings Cross Euston Station and area around will get from HS2!
One thing I am not totally sure about is following a question from a Liverpool MP the reply suggested that this bill is similar to an Infrastructure Law other countries have and in fact allows for plans for future HS lines and not just the Y HS2?
Chris Neville-Smith, Durham, England
Adam, YouGov's response to this is that opinion polls should ask the raw question, without any prompting, so that public opinion is reflected regardless of how well- or ill-informed it is.
Which is my polite way of saying that the opinion polls go that way because of the utter garbage churned out by most of our national media which the unsuspecting public mistake for facts.
Chris Neville-Smith, Durham, England
For what it's worth, my theory is that Labour's backtracking came from three sources:
1) Labour appears to be resigned to spending about as much on upgrades in the next Parliament if HS2 does not go ahead. The fiscal responsibility argument isn't quite a vote-catcher if people point out you're not saving any money.
2) I suspect David Higgins and co have been doing some arm-twisting behind the scenes. Partly assurances on keeping costs under control, but also a veiled threat of what the WCML will be like in the 2020s and who the rail industry will blame.
3) There has been a strong response from the northern councils who benefit the most from HS2 - I think Ed Balls may have underestimated that.
On a different note, I've started digesting the contents of the business case, and I was surprised by all the extra work done on the alternatives. In particular, they have done a considerably better job finding workable upgrades of the WCML that actually solve the problem than 51m and their solution that doesn't work.
51m really do seem to have a pattern of proposing every alternative under the sun except the few that might actually work.
Adam, Birmingham
@Windsorian - the anti-HS2 brigade base comments like that on the polls such as YouGov which, unfortunately, don't word the question they ask in the correct format. If you ask anyone whether they support the £50bn spend, the majority of course will say no as they would expect a cheque to be written for £50bn there and then. Of course the cost will be split over many years (as it is for CrossRail currently) so the wording of the poll (and others) determined the result in my opinion.
Hopefully this will be the kickstart the project needs to continue to progress
Windsorian, Windsor
The claim by the anti-HS2 brigade that "the vote demonstrated a clear disconnect with public opinion" does not stand up to public scrutiny. All the major political parties included support for HS2 in their 2010 General Election manifestos and more than 17 million people voted for them.