Labour pledges go-ahead for HS2

Wakefield MP Mary Creagh, who was given Labour’s transport brief in last month’s shadow cabinet reshuffle, confirmed the party will continue to back a new high-speed rail link between London and the North, but would keep pushing to bear down on costs.

Her words followed public confirmation from leader Ed Miliband that “Labour supports HS2”, after days of pressure from Labour’s backbench MPs and council leaders across the country for the party to firm up its position.

The project has teetered on the brink over recent weeks following Labour Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls’s announcement that he was considering withdrawing his support.

David Cameron has made clear the 20-year construction project requires cross-party backing to proceed, and angry Labour MPs made their feelings crystal clear to the party leadership in a heated private meeting earlier this week.

Just 17 Conservative MPs and 11 Labour voted against, including three from Yorkshire – Shipley’s Philip Davies; Haltemprice and Howden’s David Davis; and Huddersfield’s Barry Sheerman.

Ms Creagh praised Mr Balls’s recent “courage” in scrutinising the Government’s spending on the project, which she said had “ballooned” over recent months.

But she concluded: “High Speed 2 is a project that is in the national interest. It has suffered from the fiscal and project management incompetence of this Government, and I hope that this Secretary of State will get it back on track.

“It will fall to the next Labour government to build HS2 – on time, on budget and in the national interest.”

The Bill’s passage was widely welcomed by business and engineering groups, as well as by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.

“Parliament has again given a clear signal of its support for HS2,” he said. MPs from all three of the main parties, representing constituencies across the country, have united to back this vital project. This will allow us to continue with crucial preparation work so we are ready for construction to start in 2017.”

Earlier in the day, Mr McLoughlin had told the Commons that HS2 had now reached the point “when the debate starts moving from ‘if’ to ‘when’.”

He went on: “Just this week with the storms that hit the south and the east, we have seen how crucial our railways are to national life. When trains are crowded and disrupted, life for hard-working people gets more difficult. That’s why the new north-south line isn’t some expensive luxury.”

A report published by the Department for Transport earlier this week concluded the only alternative to building a new North/South line would involve 14 years of weekend closures along the East Coast, Midland and West Coast mainlines for a £20bn upgrade programme.

Attention will now turn to the second, far more complex HS2 ‘hybrid’ Bill, which will be brought before the Commons within weeks. It is due to become law in 2015, with work to begin on the line two years later.

Explaining his decision last night to vote against the bill, Mr Davies said: “I cannot find anyone in my constituency that is in favour of High Speed Rail. The vote was just the preparation stages, there is a long way to go. I think it is a catastrophic waste of money at £50 billion. I believe that money would be better spent tackling local infrastructure and congestion schemes.

“Dealing with the problems at Saltaire or getting a Shipley Eastern Bypass would do more to improve the economy in my constituency than High Speed Rail could.”

In a statement after the vote, Penny Gaines – chair of the campaign group Stop HS2 – said: “In a week when the Government has pulled out all the stops in an attempt to bolster the case for HS2, it is not surprising that the blank cheque Bill was voted through.”

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