HS2 Debate in the House of Commons

After many months of trying Dan Byles MP, Geoffrey Robinson MP and I finally secured a debate in the main chamber of the House of Commons to discuss HS2. The debate took place on Thursday 13 October and was very well attended.

Members from all Parties and all sides of the argument attended what was a fiercely argued debate. In total 16 MPs spoke, in addition to the 19 MPs that spoke in the Westminster Hall debate in Parliament earlier in the year. Like that debate, many MPs wanted to speak but were not called to do so as time ran out.

The amount of interest in these two debates shows just how important the issue is to the whole country. I was particularly pleased to see that MPs from across the country including the North West and Birmingham raised their concerns about the project.

In my speech I made clear that I entirely support the need to improve capacity on our railways but that this particular project is neither environmentally friendly nor will it narrow the North South divide, it is, in fact, an enormous waste of taxpayers' money. I argued that there are many measures we can take now to deal with the capacity issue. These measures will go much further in solving the North South divide and can be delivered far quicker so that commuters on the West Coast Mainline do not have to wait until 2026 at the earliest for relief to the overcrowding.

Since the debate we now have a new Secretary of State for Transport. Philip Hammond has moved to the Ministry of Defence and Justine Greening, previously the Economic Secretary, has been promoted to Secretary of State for Transport. Justine has done a fantastic job at the Treasury and has certainly proved her ability as an economic thinker. My main argument has always been that this project is not good value for taxpayers' money and I have written to Justine to ask if she will meet with me to discuss the proposal.

I am hopeful that with two well attended debates behind us, growing opposition to this project from all Parties and MPs across the country and a new Transport Secretary, the Government may reconsider this project and opt for a more sensible choice that would deal with our capacity problems, go further in solving the North South divide and be much better value for money.

I would like to thank the thousands of constituents who are constantly writing letters, attending meetings and giving up their own time to oppose this project – keep up the hard work. The battle continues!

(picture shows Andrea speaking in the HS2 debate)

View comments

Post a comment

Back to all posts