If the strange mood of Tory unity over Europe is giving you the heebie-jeebies, then have a look at high-speed rail. When disunity boils over, which it is likely to do later this autumn, it will cause the party real problems. Unless, of course, Adam Afriyie decides to launch some kind of coup on HS2, in which case Parliament will probably unite to support the new line and that will be the last we hear of it.
Labour is now crouching in the undergrowth, waiting for the Tory disunity to bubble over. The party hasn’t quite dropped its love of stirring things up a bit, and the disappearance of Maria Eagle from the Shadow Transport Brief means the party is really ready for the right moment to trash the ‘north-south line’. Incidentally, in private Eagle was also frustrated with the way the party hadn’t taken her advice on the branding of the new line – she had suggested the ‘north-south railway’, which the Tories have now stolen.
But she’s gone now, and though this morning her replacement Mary Creagh made very clear that ‘Labour supports the idea of a North-South rail link’, she repeated the Ed Balls line about there being a question about whether this is the best use of money:
‘David Cameron and George Osborne have made clear they will go full steam ahead with this project whatever the cost.
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