Back in 2013, the HS2 Paving Act was put before Parliament to allow the Department for Transport to spend money on HS2 which would not normally be allowed before the HS2 Hybrid Bill was passed.
One aspect of the Bill was a requirement on the Secretary of State prepare “prepare a report on expenditure under section 1 in relation to each financial year” and ” lay each report under this section before Parliament as soon as is reasonably practicable after the end of the financial year to which it relates.”
Given that the Act was passed in 2013, you might think there should have been an annual report already – except the Act also defined the first financial year as ending covered by it as ending on 31st March 2015.
However, as has always been clear, HS2 Ltd’s spending won’t by shown to MPs until after the next election – the current Parliament dissolves on 30th March 2015.
So it isn’t until the next Government forms that MPs will find out what’s been spent on HS2 already.
Meanwhile, Dorset MP Chris Chope has submitted a Private Memebers bill on HS2, the HS2 Funding Referendum Bill. We urge all our supporters to write to their MP and ask them to vote in favour of this bill, which is due to be debated on 23rd January.