UK transport is “low down on the list of [political] priorities” warned political commentator Steve Richards, but he believes the High Speed 2 rail project is unlikely to be scrapped.
Speaking at the Business Travel Association’s annual conference in Antwerp today (12 September), Richards said he “genuinely doesn’t understand” why transport does not get more attention considering the economic growth it generates.
“If you look at the current transport secretary, Mark Harper, he’s the fifth in so many years. It’s constantly changing and they have very little influence over the treasury,” he said. “Current transport policy is being run more by Number Ten [Downing Street] and the treasury than the transport secretary.”
Richards added that shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, is “quite radical” while Labour leader Keir Starmer and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves are “quite cautious”.
“She [Haigh] doesn’t have much leverage with leadership. If she becomes transports secretary next year she might not have the pull that everyone in this room deserves,” explained Richards.
Richards believes it is unlikely that Labour would pull the plug on HS2 should it win a potential general election next year. Connecting London, Birmingham and Manchester, more than £20 billion has already been spent on delivering Phase 1 of the controversial high-speed rail line between London and the West Midlands, with completion of that section due between 2029 and 2033.
“If there is a Labour government they’ve got to find money from somewhere and there has always been a significant section of the Labour party against it,” said Richards. “One thing Rachel Reeves could do to save money is to pull HS2. I don’t think she has wholly ruled it out but it’s very unlikely. Labour are going to argue that infrastructure drives growth so it would be a bit weird to end this massive infrastructure project.”
He continued: “If the Tories return, there have been too many moments when they could have stopped it and didn’t. [Boris] Johnson was under huge pressure at times to scrap it. I think they will stick with it. Questions remain about scale but I’d be surprised if it’s stopped.”