HS2

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I am afraid I cannot recall exactly what the position is, so I shall write to the noble Lord and tell him where we think we are with it.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

Does the Minister recall that the original plan was that HS2 should go all the way to Scotland?

[Noble Lords]

Oh!

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

It was. Has the Minister tried recently to go up the west coast main line to Glasgow? If he did, he would realise that there are capacity problems. Something needs to be done to try to restore that awful decision, one of many made by that Government who used to be opposite.

[Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (Lab)]

I am familiar with the west coast main line from my previous job. I have often travelled on it and am familiar with the limitations in how it performs and the number of trains that you can get on it. Incidentally, I was also the author of a review of the connectivity of the United Kingdom, and I made some recommendations about the connectivity of England and Scotland. This Government are very mindful of that, and it will be part of the review of the current state of HS2 as we have inherited it.