Budget 2021: HS2 honesty by red wall MP is welcome – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: J A King, Thurgoland, Sheffield.
HS2 continues to divide political and public opinion.HS2 continues to divide political and public opinion.
HS2 continues to divide political and public opinion.

I READ the Saturday Essay on HS2 by Miriam Cates MP (The Yorkshire Post, October 23) with interest to the point of disbelief.

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At last an MP who is more interested in her constituents than grandiose glorification. Yes, she advocates providing better services and connectivity for the many rather than the self-seeking few.

Miriam Cates is the Penistone and Stocksbridge MP.Miriam Cates is the Penistone and Stocksbridge MP.
Miriam Cates is the Penistone and Stocksbridge MP.

She has obviously taken the time to analyse the needs of the region and its people. I must agree with her analysis of the situation that HS2 is no longer the answer to levelling up.

What an opportunity missed by the so-called experts – Sheffield a major northern city with rubbish links with the rest of the North.

There is already in existence most of the infrastructure in place to connect Sheffield with Stocksbridge, Penistone, Huddersfield, Bradford, Manchester and on to Liverpool.

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Along with electrifying the Midland Main Line, this would create a fantastic inter-connected much-needed service with the opportunity to go green and electrify all of that network .

The future of the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds continues to prompt much debate and discussion.The future of the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds continues to prompt much debate and discussion.
The future of the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds continues to prompt much debate and discussion.

This would certainly give more bangs for your buck than any HS2 glory project which is going to cost an absolute fortune.

So I ask this question – is the glory HS2 project more important than serving the greater needs of the greater number of everyday working people?

From: David Reed, Mirfield.

MIRIAM Cates MP is seriously failing her constituents by changing her position and opposing HS2.

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This exciting 21st century railway is being constructed right now and will definitely reach Birmingham and Crewe, which has already been approved and financed.

The social cost benefit 
analysis has demonstrated 
that considerable economic benefits are gained if the line is extended to the North, making it self- financing.

Already, substantial growth is occurring in the Midlands in the expectation of HS2 service. Would Ms Cates prefer this growth to be limited to the cash-rich Midlands rather than benefitting our region?

She says HS2 trains will 
not link Sheffield and Birmingham. She is wrong, 
they will.

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By breaking ranks, Ms Cates is providing manna from heaven to the Government who can claim that even local MPs don’t support high-speed rail.

This is a dreadful and astonishing betrayal of her constituents.

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