Britain needs HS2, prime minister – not more wishy-washy promises

Our message to Rishi Sunak is this – we can find ways to make significant savings on the project, without losing any of our ambition, writes Northern Powerhouse Partnership CEO Henri Murison

Rishi Sunak during the Conservative conference, for which the slogan is ‘long-term decisions for a brighter future’ (PA )

HS2 is absolutely vital … post-Brexit we must be AMBITIOUS for our country and hungry for our economy. What signal would it send if we cancelled our highest-profile infrastructure project and weakened our commitment to share prosperity around the country?”

These were the words of Jeremy Hunt MP, now the chancellor, back in 2019. A few months later, in February 2020, the government committed to build HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail in full, with the blessing of the independent Oakervee Review.

Now, just three years on, we are in a strange Schrödinger’s cat situation where the northern bit of the project is simultaneously cancelled and non-cancelled, with no confirmation from the government on what is actually happening.

As two former successful businessmen, both the prime minister and chancellor will know what this kind of uncertainty does for investor confidence (hint – it’s not great).

Over recent days, business leaders, inward investors, mayors, former prime ministers and chancellors from across the political spectrum have all expressed their dismay. To quote Boris Johnson: “We must be out of our minds.”

Firstly, wishy-washy promises that Rishi Sunak will prioritise east-west connectivity instead are deliberately misleading.

As the government’s own analysis has said, 40 per cent of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) is planned to run on HS2 phase 2b tracks – scrapping it will mean blowing a very expensive hole in the middle. Network Rail has estimated it would cost upwards of £15bn.

Secondly, delivering HS2 to the North is the only way to get value for taxpayers’ money on the project as a whole – scrap it and it really does become a white elephant, as West Midlands mayor Andy Street himself has said. The irony of that is not lost on me.

Our message to the PM is this – we can find ways to make significant savings on the project, without losing any of our ambition.

We know the UK struggles to deliver infrastructure efficiently, but the answer is not to simply never build anything at all. It’s to find solutions, whether that’s bringing in more private investment or rescoping the design and operating model. 

Other countries have proved it’s possible to do it quickly and cheaply, so why can’t we?

The economic basis for why we need HS2 and NPR (yes, both) has not changed. Many, many words have been written about why transport investment matters but, simply put, connectivity = productivity = growth = higher tax revenues.

We could unlock an additional £118bn per year by 2050 by investing in Northern transport infrastructure including HS2 and NPR according to analysis from the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review.

Those numbers sound enormous but evidence shows that investing in transport pays off – just look at Crossrail, which was late and over budget but is now due to break even next year.

Before pulling the plug on decades of work, not to mention billions in private investment, please think again, prime minister.