Transport: HS2

Lord Shipley Excerpts

Tuesday 26th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shipley]

My Lords, I am a long-standing supporter of high-speed rail. I served for several years on the Northern Way Transport Compact and we did a lot of work establishing the case for high-speed rail and setting out the positive cost-benefit ratio that could be achieved for the north of England. My contribution this evening comes from that northern perspective, where connectivity for business and growth matters profoundly, for both the speedy movement of people and the movement and export of freight in an increasingly competitive world.

As several noble Lords have pointed out, we have existing capacity problems, the product of both rising demand and underinvestment. When exploratory work was being done on the case for HS2, my great fear was that debate would become dominated by the route to be chosen between London and Birmingham to the detriment of the production of a wider rail investment plan and the wider benefits to the UK as a whole, which would be glossed over. Therefore, I am glad that the Government have understood the case for HS2, which I think is vital to our country’s economic future. It is not just a matter for the south-east and the Midlands because it will help to rebalance our economy away from overdependence on London and the south-east for tax revenues. That means building an infrastructure which helps Scotland, the north and the Midlands to grow. London currently provides 28% of non-domestic rates income in England with only 15% of our population. That is an unhealthy situation and one that requires a better transport infrastructure to put right.

Critically, HS2 will link northern cities with each other, not just with London and Scotland. The Leeds to Birmingham journey time will be just under one hour versus two hours now, and the journey from Leeds to London will take 82 minutes versus two hours and 12 minutes today. Newcastle will not be connected to the high-speed track in the next phase but when HS2 joins the east coast main line north of Leeds, the journey time from Newcastle to London will be two hours and 18 minutes, as against just under three hours now. There will also be an hour’s saving on the journey time to Birmingham. As a consequence of HS2, there will be greater freight capacity on the system as a whole.

I commend the British Chambers of Commerce, which says that HS2 will create confidence, jobs and prosperity. We cannot go on just patching the system. We need to plan for a full national UK network and, pending that, we need to ensure that we maximise speed north of Leeds and Manchester. The cost, at £33 billion plus rolling stock at £8 billion, should be seen as a 20-year investment. Discussions about cost did not stand in the way of Eurostar or Crossrail. I agree entirely with the comments about the Heathrow connection, but the Government’s vision is right. We can debate the detail of routes, and it is right that we do so, but HS2 remains central to our potential for growth and competitiveness.