When benefits turned into losses

Almost exactly two years ago, it was revealed that after the Government paid KPMG £250,000 to invent a brand new untested methodology to create supposed economic benefits of the HS2 project, it turned out that lots of places would actually be economic losers. The report was decried by economists as ‘essentially made up’, and to put it in perspective claimed it £15bn of annual economic benefits, despite the fact the current rail network is only worth £10bn per year to the economy, and HS2 would only carry 6% of the passengers.

As this clearly shows the economic benefits were inflated, then surely the losses some places would face were underestimated. Here’s how Newsnight reported on it at the time.