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HS2 should be scrapped. Boris Johnson must pull the plug before it is too late.
For years The Sun has given this vast rail project the benefit of the doubt.
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That was when the budget was a “mere” £34billion and the business argument seemed plausible. It is now more than three times that figure and counting.
That is an obscene and reckless sum for a railway much of the country doesn’t want, whose case now looks shot and which won’t be finished until 2040.
Who knows what our transport needs will be by then with, say, driverless cars — and 6G broadband pouring data into our offices and homes at a terabyte per second?
How redundant will a train be, even a gleaming new high-speed one?
CLOSING THE GAP
And who trusts Whitehall to deliver this monstrous scheme on time or within even the £108billion now estimated?
This Government is all about “levelling up”, closing the gap between London and the South East and the rest of Britain, empowering all cities and towns to prosper and grow like the capital.
So spend some of HS2’s billions instead on a massive rail upgrade for the Midlands and North, especially the Manchester to Leeds route.
Get public transport in those cities, and Birmingham and Liverpool, up to London standards.
Yes, it will take years. Meanwhile invest in and subsidise a huge new network of bus routes which will rapidly improve lives and local economies.
If we do still need to increase capacity from Birmingham to the capital it can be done at a fraction of the current cost and without trains doing 225mph.
And why not spend another few billion of the savings on the Scotland-to-Ireland rail and road bridge Boris suggested?
It should not be a fantasy. It’s a sounder idea than HS2.
We’re on the up
WE always believed a Tory election win and some Brexit certainty would do wonders for the economy.
Now more than 1,000 EU finance firms are opening UK offices. Facebook is creating 1,000 jobs.
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Our growth is predicted to beat almost every major EU country for two years. The employment rate is at a new high, unemployment at historic lows and pay rises easily beating inflation.
We’re not out of the woods. We still have a trade deal to sort with Brussels.
But yet again the Remoaner doom-mongering looks absurd.
JANE MOORE
Harry and Meghan are dreaming if they think they’ll have a peaceful life now
ROD LIDDLE
BBC’s age has passed — the new boss must finally abolish the licence fee
LORRAINE KELLY
Take a breather, Harry…then make a move back home from the Canadian cold
INGRID SEWARD
Queen read the nation’s mood well on Harry and Meghan and played a blinder
First class, PM
WE are delighted Boris is pushing the Royal Mail to agree to the Brexit stamps The Sun has campaigned for.
Of course our EU exit is controversial. But it is impossible to pretend it’s not a historic event worth commemorating.
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If Remainers don’t want them, there are plenty more stamps.
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