Following the latest mess at HS2 which was announced on Thursday which saw the costs go up again and the project delayed again, we have written a new emergency motion on the 13th birthday of the much maligned white elephant.
We need as many Green Party Members as possible to co-propose the motion by 2pm on Sunday. You can sign it by liking the motion at this Green Spaces link (login required) https://spaces.greenparty.org.uk/u/markkeir1/, and ‘liking’ the motion, or by emailing the Standing Orders Committee at soc@greenparty.org.uk stating your name and local Green Party branch and that you wish to co-propose the Emergency Motion entitled ‘RENEW OPPOSITION TO HS2 IN RESPONSE TO FURTHER DELAYS AND COST INCREASES’, submitted by Mark Keir of the Chiltern Green Party. We will also be going around the conference asking people to physically sign the motion to co-propose it.
The text of the motion follows:
EMERGENCY MOTION:
RENEW OPPOSITION TO HS2 IN RESPONSE TO FURTHER DELAYS AND COST INCREASES
Conference regards the news of further delays of HS2, announced by written statement on 9th March 2023 as indicative of a hopelessly mismanaged and out of control project. When HS2 was first announced exactly thirteen years ago, the cost of Phase 1 was set at £17bn. As of Thursday the rampantly out of control costs, for not even half of the project, stand at £71,000,000,000, just to get from London to Birmingham. When HS2 was first announced in 2010, HS2 was set to be the most expensive railway in the history of the world and it now works out at £507,000,000 per mile of HS2, over four times the original cost.
After over a decade of saying delays would add costs to HS2, the Government are now saying delaying HS2 will save costs and after 13 years, they need ‘more time’ to get the Euston station right.
We believe now is the perfect time for GPEW to redouble opposition to the HS2 project and demand an immediate cessation of all works pending a full, independent review of Phase 1, and a public inquiry into the apparent fraudulent means utilised to pass the first two Bills (Phase 1, Phase 2a) through Parliament, and the continued dishonesty regarding time scale, finances and environmental damage.
Proposed by Mark Keir, Chiltern Green Party.
Greens Against HS2 