Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg urges government to “pull the plug” on HS2

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the New Civil Engineer

Conservative MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Jacob Rees-Mogg has urged government to “pull the plug” on High Speed 2 (HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))).

Speaking exclusively to New Civil Engineer at the Conservative Party Conference, Rees-Mogg said that the scheme should be scrapped and the money “better spent elsewhere”.

Highlighting the need to invest in local rail and road projects, Rees-Mogg proposed a bypass in Bath as a scheme which could be funded by reclaiming the £52bn set aside to deliver HS2. Rees-Mogg is MP for North East Somerset.

[ChrisB]

The money is being borrowed.....

[Bmblbzzz]

HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) should be replaced by a space shuttle between London and our new best friends in Lesotho and Swaziland. I'm surprised this hasn't been proposed already.

[grahame]

HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) should be replaced by a space shuttle between London and our new best friends in Lesotho and Swaziland. I'm surprised this hasn't been proposed already.

Think I saw that in the Rochdale Herald

[Red Squirrel]

I don't greatly object to HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) as a concept - though to my essentially Bristol-centric viewpoint it is very much the kind of radial (dare I say 'cross-country') route that would be first to go if I was presiding over a cull of all routes that didn't more-or-less serve Bath's more sophisticated neighbour. But as ChrisB has pointed out, it's not like the money was sitting in someone's back pocket; it's just a gentle shake of the Magic Money Tree of the kind that suits neoliberals like Mogg when it meets their purposes, but is irresponsible and economically illiterate when used to fund, well, social cohesion.

So yes, build HS2 if you must, but while you're at it give the MMT a good old pummelling and let's have some houses, hospitals and local rail links.

[Bmblbzzz]

Completely OT but:

Bath's more sophisticated neighbour.

Having lived in both great cities beginning with B on the Avon, I completely agree with this judgement. 

[Red Squirrel]

Completely OT but:

Bath's more sophisticated neighbour.

Having lived in both great cities beginning with B on the Avon, I completely agree with this judgement. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'd fight any man who argued that Bath wasn't Bristol's second-nicest suburb...

[johnneyw]

Completely OT but:

Bath's more sophisticated neighbour.

Having lived in both great cities beginning with B on the Avon, I completely agree with this judgement. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'd fight any man who argued that Bath wasn't Bristol's second-nicest suburb...

I presume that you mean that Redland is Bristol's actual nicest suburb? 😀

[Western Pathfinder]

After Stoke Bishop perhaps.

[Red Squirrel]

I presume that you mean that Redland is Bristol's actual nicest suburb? 😀

Sort of. What I really mean is almost anywhere within a ten-minute walk of the No.9 bus: https://www.firstgroup.com/uploads/maps/Service_8_9_WEB%20%281%29.pdf

[eightf48544]

Gone a bit off track but my view is that there are lots of capacity constraints on the existing network many due to removal infrastructure in the 70s and 80s.

Some that come to mind immediately are Trowbridge -Tingley Jn, Bradford North Curve,  Weymouth station throat single track, Long Rock single track, Cotswold line remaining single track.

Then there are all the single lead junctions.

There is also an interesting article on increasing capacity on the existing network in Octobers Modern railway. One point made was slow speed turnouts 15/25 mph from mainlines holding up following trains as they slow to take the junction and get clear.

As for HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) I have 4 things against it, Euston, Curzon Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds Central. They should all have been through stations.

[Red Squirrel]

Gone a bit off track but my view is that there are lots of capacity constraints on the existing network many due to removal infrastructure in the 70s and 80s.

Some that come to mind immediately are Trowbridge -Tingley Jn, Bradford North Curve,  Weymouth station throat single track, Long Rock single track, Cotswold line remaining single track.

Then there are all the single lead junctions.

There is also an interesting article on increasing capacity on the existing network in Octobers Modern railway. One point made was slow speed turnouts 15/25 mph from mainlines holding up following trains as they slow to take the junction and get clear.

As for HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) I have 4 things against it, Euston, Curzon Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds Central. They should all have been through stations.

I'm sure we all have our favourite candidates. Personally I'd like to see redoubling between Clifton Down and Narroways, TfL^» (Transport for London - about)-style contactless payment, electrification of Bristol and so on.

[Bmblbzzz]

Completely OT but:

Bath's more sophisticated neighbour.

Having lived in both great cities beginning with B on the Avon, I completely agree with this judgement. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'd fight any man who argued that Bath wasn't Bristol's second-nicest suburb...

I wouldn't rate it that highly. It started going downhill about 1996* and since the awful Southgate development of everyone's favourite tourist activity, it's only got worse.

*Cos that's when I left, of course. 

[Bmblbzzz]

Getting back to HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)): nothing wrong with it, except that it can be used to say "Look how much we're investing in railways!" for a decade or two while it's being talked about, planned and built, then "Look how wonderful our railways are! So fast! So modern!" for another two or three or four. So that's half a century's worth of self-congratulation using a straw-man, functioning as an excuse to avoid doing things which would be more useful. On the other hand, it will be of some benefit and if it were cancelled now, I very much doubt any money saved would be spent on those other things.

[Sixty3Closure]

I'm not convinced its needed but if we are going to build it start in Scotland or the North. At the moment all it feels it will achieve is drawing more people to London and the South East as Birmingham becomes a suburb of London for commuting purposes.

Investing outside of the South East might encourage people and companies to move elsewhere which can only be good for house prices (in that hopefully there would be levelling effect and less demand on the SE).