Stop HS2: High speed rail report is scathing

Stop HS2 campaign coordinator Joe Rukin responds to the Commons' transport committee's report on high speed rail:

"This report is absolutely scathing in its list of work that still needs doing in terms of planning and appraising HS2 before deciding to proceed, and shows there are many unanswered questions.

"They have asked for ministers to publish the evidence which shows how they can afford to build HS2 whilst being able to continue investing in the rest of the network with projected capital and revenue expenditure profiles.

"The entire business case for HS2 is propped up by the voodoo economics principle of actually working out a cash value for 'time is money', something which the committee state is 'disappointing'.

"They have spotted that HS2 is not part of an integrated solution, that it does not form part of any wider strategy, and that if HS2 is to work in terms of providing any wider economic benefits there has to be massive additional investment to make that happen, but there is no plan of how all of that would happen as well."

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