Finally, an HS2 argument from the government that isn’t entirely based on speculative forecasts or political positioning. The transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has given a speech at the Institution of Civil Engineers this morning, taking on HS2’s growing number of critics.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a transport speech without some economic forecasts. The Department for Transport have released a new report from KPMG, suggesting the line will lead to a £15 billion annual boost to the economy. But the overall theme is about making the HS2 debate about capacity:
‘The reason we need HS2 isn’t for its speed…the benefits of faster journeys are easy to explain. But the main reason we need HS2 is as a heart bypass for the clogged arteries of our transport system..without the capacity provided by HS2 the main road and rail lines linking eight of our 10 largest cities will quite simply be overwhelmed.’
McLoughlin has also taken a leaf from Andrew Adonis on why patching-and-mending the existing West Coast Mainline is not the solution Britain should be striving for:
‘We’ve already spent £9 billion on the last West Coast upgrade but that didn’t finish the job.
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