Stop HS2 reaction to comments made by Louise Haigh that imply HS2 will be extended into Euston.
The comments were made by Louise Haigh, the Labour Transport Secretary, in a round of media interviews on Tuesday 8th October.
Penny Gaines, chair of Stop HS2, said
“The last government dropped taxpayer funding for the HS2 link from Old Oak Common to Euston because it was just so expensive at £6.5bn. This is on top of the cost of the rest of HS2 Phase 1 which latest figures showing will cost up to £56 billion.
“It’s highly likely that the current Labour government will have to use taxpayer funds to build the extension to Euston, as well as paying for the rest of building HS2. We have a government claiming a massive black hole in the public finances, but they seem to have endless money for their favoured causes.
“However one thing has always happened with HS2 his that the costs have gone relentlessly upwards, whilst the expected benefits have gone down. Numerous ministers have talked about ‘bearing down’ on the cost of HS2, but after each review, the cost has either gone up, or the project has been descoped. Or sometimes both.
“In the last fifteen years, videoconferencing has become the norm, meanwhile travel and commuting patterns have massively altered. And yet HS2 is still going ahead as if nothing has changed.”