THE UK Government’s decision to cancel the West Midlands to Manchester line of HS2 has been described by the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) as a ‘dark day’ for the ‘entire’ UK economy.
In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester today, prime minister Rishi Sunak confirmed the cancellation of ‘the rest of the HS2 project’.
Commenting, director of operations for CECA, Marie-Claude Hemming, said, “This is a dark day for the UK economy, and for everyone who has placed trust in successive UK governments to level up the country and close the north-south divide.
“While the prime minister has promised to reinvest HS2 money in alternative schemes, we as an industry know how unlikely this will be to materialise and impact communities in anything like the game-changing way that high speed rail would have delivered.
“Britain now lags far behind our competitors and will remain so due to this short-sighted decision.
“That the UK Government can make such a decision without a democratic mandate – after the scheme has been supported by all parties throughout successive general elections – frankly beggars belief.”
GMB Union said the UK can’t rebalance the economy or fix the railway capacity ‘crisis’ without HS2.
Laurence Turner, GMB head of research and policy, said, “Rishi Sunak’s decision to inflict the biggest rail cut since the Beeching axe will send a shockwave through the construction industry and railway supply chain, costing hundreds of jobs. The UK’s political instability was already holding the economy back – it will now be even harder to fund and deliver the new infrastructure that the country desperately needs.
“We can’t rebalance the economy or fix the railway capacity crisis without HS2. It’s essential that the planned route is now protected so that a future government can reverse this disastrous decision.”
Mark Reynolds, Mace Group chairman and CEO, said the decision to not build new high-speed rail north of Birmingham to Manchester will ‘seriously undermine’ business and investor confidence in the UK and the nation’s ability to deliver on promises, as well as having a ‘chilling’ effect on the UK’s construction industry.
“The use of the expected £36 billion saving to create Network North instead is a bold statement, and we look forward to seeing the detail of the hundreds of planned new rail and road projects,” he added. “It is now more important than ever that government release an updated Infrastructure and construction pipeline to give confidence to investors and allow the sector to plan and invest in jobs, skills and equipment to meet the announced demand.”
