DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Scaling back HS2 now is a ticket to disaster
Ever since HS2 was mooted, the Mail has expressed reservations about the merits of building a high-speed line.
We asked whether a paltry reduction in journey times was really worth all the years of chaos and disruption.
Most of all though, we were dismayed by the rapidly spiralling costs – £100 billion and rising – money which surely could have been better spent modernising our creaking transport infrastructure.
So after years of dither and delay, we fully understand why some may feel that continuing with this ludicrously expensive vanity project would simply be throwing good money after bad.
That said, we firmly believe that for the Government to even consider scrapping the Birmingham-to-Manchester route at this stage would be utter madness.
Ever since HS2 was mooted, the Mail has expressed reservations about the merits of building a high-speed line (Pictured: A digital mockup of HS2)
The whole point of HS2 was to level up the country and turbo-charge left-behind cities, narrowing the North-South divide.
Having already cut the proposed link between Leeds and the Midlands, to bring down the axe on the Manchester leg now would only invite accusations that the North was being abandoned altogether.
By carving up vast swathes of the British countryside in Tory-supporting seats, the Government has already angered its traditional supporters – all the while creating a gravy train for armies of incompetent executives, lobbyists and assorted lackeys.
If the net result of all this ends up being little more than a service that cuts commuters’ journey time between Birmingham and London by just a few minutes, there will rightly be uproar.
Surely we either build this thing in its entirety, or not at all.
Yes, the cost of completing this shambolic scheme is going to be eye-watering.
But the alternative scenario would be saddling the country with a catastrophic white elephant.
Is Tory tide turning?
Not that long ago, Rishi Sunak was waking up to a daily barrage of headlines about lax prisons and crumbling schools.
But a week is a long time in politics. And while not exactly bouncing excitedly from toe to toe, he will head to the Tory conference this weekend feeling decidedly more chipper.
His bold decision to scale down the green agenda was a huge boost to hard-pressed families worried about meeting the cost of our net-zero commitments.
Further common sense announcements now look set to follow, with No10 expected to reaffirm its commitment to the pensions triple lock while also promising to rip up environmental rules which will allow more housebuilding.
Not that long ago, Rishi Sunak (pictured) was waking up to a daily barrage of headlines about lax prisons and crumbling schools
Meanwhile, there are encouraging noises emanating from the Treasury at long last about slashing the hated inheritance tax.
All strong, red-meat proposals which will create a sharp dividing line between Labour and the Conservatives before an election.
The Tories remain well adrift in the polls. But there are encouraging signs that the PM is finally getting on the front foot.
Dark side of The Blob
It’s a shocking story – yet one which has sadly become all too predictable.
Civil servants claim to have been bullied and harassed by work colleagues, with their views compared to Nazism.
Their supposed crime? Daring to air gender-critical views that people can’t change their biological sex.
Yet another worrying example of supposedly impartial officials attacking those who don’t conform to their own woke opinions. And a stark reminder of the urgent need for ministers to get to grips with the dreaded ‘Blob’.
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