Wendover “it’s not over” HS2 meeting

1. Can Justine Greening climb out of the hole dug deep by Philip Hammond without the conservatives loosing face?

   Politicians don’t mind changing things as long as they can blame the other side. Ms Greening can point the finger at Lord Adonis, the unelected former Labour transport minister, for hatching a scheme behind closed doors without due consideration of the aims and objectives and evaluation of alternatives. It’s unfortunate for the conservatives that Mr Hammond embraced the scheme so enthusiastically, but now she can say, in light of the consultation responses, that while the government remains committed to increasing rail capacity, the proposed HS2 is wrong and she can instruct her officials to come up with a new scheme that links properly with Heathrow and the wider network, follows existing transport corridors, provides appropriate and not necessarily the fastest journey times, and makes a positive contribution to carbon reduction targets.

   Hammond comes out a bit damaged for accepting the Labour scheme at face value and wasting time and money following it through, but Justine Greening scores highly amongst the party faithful and, while MPs along the route heave a collective sigh of relief, her career prospects get a significant boost.

   Go for it Justine!!!

   • I wonder if they were planning to get out of HS2 anyway and moving Hammond was part of that plan !

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