The STOP HS2 campaign team haven’t yet seen a copy of the Philip Hammond’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference, but there are reports in some of the papers about what he is going to say:
The Evening Standard quotes Hammond’s speech as saying:
“That’s why we have made a commitment to a high speed rail network that will change the economic and social geography of Britain, connecting our great population centres and our international gateways together, transforming the way Britain works as profoundly as the coming of the original railways did in the mid-19th century.”
Yes, Philip Hammond thinks the way to transform 21st century Britain is to use Victorian technology.
He doesn’t think digital technologies will have an effect on travel in Britain (we know, because he said so in one of the meetings held in Buckinghamshire last week).
He is also going to claim – according to the Evening Standard – that the plans will help cut carbon emissions.
But that contradicts the HS2 documents. HS2 themselves say that operating the railway is likely to be broadly carbon neutral, and HS2 say there is a possibility that it may even cause an increase in carbon emissions