Nearly 2000 petitions against HS2 were deposited at the petition’s office by the deadline last Friday, including approximately 60 that were delivered by Joe Rukin. This is more than the petitions from Crossrail and HS1 combined.
Download Stop HS2’s Hybrid Bill Petition.
Lots of people have commented on how archaic it is that petitioners had to include 4 printed copies of the petition. These are being scanned to go online: a pointless duplication of effort, when many of them could have been submitted electronically, and saved the extra step of scanning.
Petitions against HS2 on the Parliamentary Website
Let’s all hope that hs2 becomes a ghost train so that the church can do their bit and put the final nail into this total mess of a project
Conservatives need to increase votes to win. HS2 is large vote loser in some areas. Bigger vote losers exist and waste is becoming a voter byword. HS2 may be the blame batton Conservatives use later to blame the electorate for ousting them. Have these few MPs accounted for losing knowing the situation is likely to be worse for many in the next Parliament.
Between a rock and a hard place is the Conservative position with Cameron and Osborne losing the respect of voters and becoming considered as not
Having a plan B to change priorities. With Liberals unlikely to have seats to trade and a widening gap between Labour and Conservatives most probable HS2 is not the deal maker but the trust breaker. The Prime Minister will only benefit from changes in the next three months with one being suspension of HS2. A fall from power is
most likely on current trends. Dare he change and enable you to sigh with relief that common sense prevailed.
You are right about the breach of trust.
However, I think that all 3 parties have a political investment in HS2, for reasons that remain occult from the public even though it is against the public’s wishes.
The mutating justifications forHS2: speed connectivity capacity etc can all be challenged and better solutions obtained but the juggernaut mysteriously rolls on without major review of the fundamental flaws. The decision re route was made without the involvement of Parliament other than to vote on a decision on route made my Ministers and their quango.
The new justification for HS2 will doubtless be to balance the unfair north south divide (actually london v rest of UK) on per capita transport expenditure. Louise Ellman (TSC) and Baroness Kramer( MfT) were ‘arguing’ the matter on the radio in an unconvincing manner and HS2 of course was mentioned positively by both. Just more rail needed everywhere, but no sense of real systemic planning or public consultation. False dilemma false solutions underpinned by false moral .justifications.
But with parliamentary consensus little chance that the public vote will influence the supreme court condoned ‘democratic process’ unless voting is tactical or there is an emergence of
independents.
Yes you have to ask yourself if they just want to make the process awkward with regard to petitioning but with nearly 2000 in its great that so many bothered to take the time lets all hope something happens and there voices are heard